The Arrest of our Sister in iran

We want to share a report we received from one of our field workers with you. It concerns our sister Mina, a Christian believer from West Azerbaijan Province. As you read this, she has been in the custody of the Islamic Republic for more than two and a half months.

On the evening of May 14, 2026, Sister Mina was at home with her 12-year-old daughter. She was sick that night, fighting a severe cold. Around twelve plainclothes agents of the Ministry of Intelligence stormed into her house. They searched the entire home. They confiscated her Bibles, the crosses and Christian artwork on her walls, and the family’s phones. Then, in front of her little daughter’s eyes, they took her away. The agents did not stop there. They went to her father’s house and seized the Gospels, Christian books, and handwritten notes he had been keeping in his basement.

Our sister was transferred to one of the Ministry of Intelligence detention centers in the province — a facility that former detainees describe as one of the most feared interrogation centers in the Islamic Republic. For days, her family received no information at all: not where she was held, not her physical condition, not how long they intended to keep her.

From the testimonies of many Christians who have passed through these same facilities, we know what those first days look like. Detainees are held in solitary confinement. The cell light stays on day and night, so the prisoner loses all sense of time. Once a day, escorted by a guard, they are taken to a small, enclosed yard for 10 to 20 minutes — just enough to glimpse a little sunlight. Access to a shower, a clock, or a phone call is extremely restricted. When a call is permitted, interrogators stand over the prisoner and allow only a few words, usually nothing more than: “I’m fine, don’t worry.”

The purpose of this psychological pressure is no mystery. Those who have endured it tell us: it is designed to break the prisoner’s spirit, force them to deny their faith in Christ, and extract the names of other believers and ministry workers they have been in contact with.

A Daughter’s Message

Sister Mina’s 12-year-old daughter sent us this message in late May. I am sharing her words just as she wrote them: “I don’t know, dear brother… about 14 days ago, we were just sitting at home, and suddenly they came in and took my mom away. They found a lot of books too, and the crosses on the wall. My dad wasn’t home. My mom was feeling sick, but they took her anyway. Please pray for her, dear brother. My mom asked me to tell you: ‘Please pray for me.'”

Read that last line again. From inside an interrogation, under that kind of pressure, our sister’s request was not for a lawyer or other things. Her request, passed through her little girl, “Pray for me.”

I know this little girl. Not long ago, she sat at a table with our team, helping us place Gospel tracts inside a mountain of Bibles for distribution in Turkey. And during their first discipleship conference, I had the privilege of baptizing her in water, together with her mother and her brother. The child asking the Church to pray for her mother is herself a baptized believer.

According to her daughter, after about 10 days of solitary confinement, Sister Mina was moved out of the interrogation center on May 24 and transferred to prison. At the time, we had no way to confirm this. But in late June, one of the brothers was able to speak with her son, who confirmed that his mother had indeed been transferred to the provincial prison and remains in detention. As we go to print, our sister is still behind bars.

She Counted the Cost

Sister Mina was never a stranger to us. She attended our discipleship and church-planting conferences and joined our outreaches to share the Gospel with her people. At the close of one conference, when the call was given, she raised her hand and committed her life to return to Iran and carry on the Great Commission. She understood what that decision could cost her, and she made it anyway.

Twelve-armed agents against one sick woman and her 12-year-old daughter, over Bibles and Crosses in a home — this is the measure of the regime’s fear. Not of weapons, but of the Gospel of Jesus Christ quietly transforming Iranian homes.

Her One Request

From inside the regime’s prison, through her daughter, our sister asked us for one thing: prayer.

Let us pray for her — that the Lord would sustain and comfort her in prison, and that like so many before her, she would come out of that place stronger in Christ than she went in.

For her daughter and son — that the God of all comfort would hold these children close while their mother is taken from them.

For her release — that the Lord would move supernaturally and open the prison doors.

“Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” — Hebrews 13:3

By the grace of God, we are departing for the Middle East in a few days. This will be our first trip back to the region since the war between Iran, Israel, and the United States began at the end of February. We will be hosting a conference to support Iranian believers who have been profoundly affected by the war and the ongoing uncertainty of Iran’s future.

For security reasons, we cannot disclose the country before the trip, but the gathering will be held in one of Iran’s neighboring countries. We will bring believers out of Iran for a full week of worship, prayer, teaching, fellowship, encouragement, and baptisms.

During the war, the airspace was closed, flights were canceled, and the internet was shut down. For the people inside Iran, communication with the outside world became impossible. The believers could not join ICI’s weekly online church, where nearly 300 people usually gather. We could not reach them, and they could not reach us.

In such a time, isolation can become one of Satan’s strongest weapons. When believers are cut off from fellowship, unable to communicate freely, and surrounded by fear, discouragement can settle deeply in the heart. Many inside Iran have prayed for years to see their nation free from the Islamic regime, and after the war, many are still asking what will happen next. Some have grown weary, and others have begun to lose hope. Many believers we have spoken with are afraid that if the regime survives this storm, the oppression could continue for much longer.

Normally, by this time of year, we would have already been in the region twice for nearly a month of ministry, which typically includes two weeks of street evangelism and outreach and two weeks of conferences in two different locations. But this year, because of the war, the closed airspace, and the travel disruptions, all of our trips had to be canceled or placed on hold. That makes this gathering even more important. We understand the weight of the time we are in, and that is why we must go.

This conference is not  just another ministry   event on the calendar. It is truly a lifeline for believers who need to be strengthened in the Lord

For one week, they will be able to step out of the pressure, worship freely, receive the Word of God, pray with other believers, and remember that our hope is not in earthly circumstances, governments, or political outcomes, but in Christ alone.

Many of them have paid a great price to follow Jesus, and they live under the constant threat of arrest or interrogation. They need to be reminded that the body of Christ has not forgotten them.

A Cornered Regime is a Dangerous One

The Islamic regime is at its weakest point in decades. But a cornered regime is a dangerous one. When the Islamic government feels threatened, they become more vile. They had been setting up roadblocks and checkpoints, hunting for supposed spies and enemies of the state. The real purpose is not finding CIA or Mossad agents but to spread fear. They want Iranians to think twice before rising up again. And when they go looking for enemies to make an example of, Christians are consistently among the first groups they go after. They have labeled believers as “Zionist spies” and “Mossad agents,” branding followers of Christ as traitors to the nation. Our brothers and sisters inside Iran are carrying the weight of that threat every single day.

We believe this conference will be a holy moment for many Iranian believers.

Some will be baptized, others will find healing and renewed courage after months of fear, and many will return to Iran with fresh fire to continue. All of them will be reminded again that Jesus is Lord over Iran, and He is not done yet with the Persian people.

Please pray for this gathering

Pray that every believer who needs to come will be able to travel safely, that doors will remain open, and that the regime will not be able to interfere. Pray for our team as we teach, minister, and care for the believers, and pray that the Lord will use this conference to equip the underground church for whatever comes next.

God has a plan for the Persian people

Jeremiah 49 says: “I will set My throne in Elam (region in current Iran), And will destroy from there the king and the princes,” says the Lord. “But it shall come to pass in the latter days: I will bring back the captives of Elam,” says the Lord.

I was born in Tehran in 1984 — five years after my nation traded its freedom for a list of promises. I never saw the Iran my parents knew. I grew up inside what the promises built: fear, bread lines, informers, prisons. And I have watched, from my new home in America, the same promises being made again — in English this time.

Scripture tells us why we must talk about this. “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11, NKJV). History is God’s classroom. Iran is the lesson. America is the student.

THE PROMISES

In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini stood before a prosperous nation and made an offer. Free water. Free electricity. Free bus transportation for the needy. Housing for all. The oil money would pay for everything, he said, under a just Islamic system. Iran at that time had an income per capita more than double of South Korea’s. El Al flew nonstop from Tel Aviv to Tehran 18 times every week. We were comfortable. We were free. We were told it was unfair.

Two months after those promises, Iranians voted. One question sat on the ballot: “Islamic Republic — yes or no?” By the new regime’s own count, 98 percent said yes. There was no coup. There was no invasion. There was a ballot box.

In November 2025, New York City elected a mayor on a platform every Iranian of my generation recognized at once. Fare-free buses. Government-run grocery stores. Frozen rent. Free childcare. The rich would pay for everything. Tehran was promised free buses in 1979. New York was promised free buses in 2025. Forty-six years apart, the speeches are nearly identical — there, the promise came in a turban; here, it comes in a suit. Iranians have heard this music before. We know how the song ends.

“YOU CAN VOTE YOUR WAY IN. YOU CANNOT VOTE YOUR WAY OUT.”

THE IDENTITY

The free things never arrived in Iran. The changes did. Our flag lost the Lion and Sun — the emblem of Persia for centuries. In its place: “Allahu Akbar,” written twenty-two times.

A Farsi-speaking nation was forced into Arabic prayers. Our daughters became “adults” at nine years old — veiled at nine, marriageable at nine. First they change what you have. Then they change who you are.

So watch the symbols, America. In 2024, Minnesota retired the flag it had flown for generations, and its citizens are still arguing over what the new design resembles.

Some will say a flag is a small thing. Iranians know better. A nation is conquered in its symbols before it is conquered in its laws.

THE STREETS

In Tehran I was made to chant “Death to Israel, death to America” before I was old enough to understand the words. Today I hear the same chants on American campuses — in English. In Western cities, marchers now declare openly that Islam will rule the West, that the caliphate is coming, that Islam will enter every household. The Jew-hatred I was raised on has crossed the ocean and changed its vocabulary: they call it anti-Zionism now. It is the same hatred with a newer name.

Hear me on this. The hatred that begins with the Jews has never once ended with the Jews. Israel is the warning light on the dashboard of the world. When a movement becomes obsessed with destroying the Jewish state, every free nation should check its own engine.

THE THEFT

What did Iran receive for its 98 percent? The regime turned first on the very allies who carried it to power — the students, the socialists, the intellectuals. Universities were closed for years. Women were erased from public life. Eight years of war swallowed our sons; boys walked through minefields wearing plastic “keys to paradise.” Christians were imprisoned for holding church in a living room. The currency collapsed from 70 rials to the dollar toward one million. Everything was stolen from us — our identity, wealth, our daughters, our voice. Every freedom became irrelevant overnight, and it has stayed irrelevant for 47 years.

THE TEACHING I CARRY ACROSS AMERICA

This is why I travel and teach across the United States a presentation built from our history: “The Unholy Alliance between the Reds and the Greens — Iran 1979, America Now.” It walks through the promises, the coalition of socialists and Islamists that made no sense until it made a revolution, the purges, the bill that came due — and the same pattern now emerging in the West in the name of equity, DEI, and taxing the rich. I teach it for one purpose: to protect this nation from being Islamized, so America never loses what Iran lost.

THE PLAN THAT BACKFIRED

Here is the part of the story that Iran’s regime cannot stop. For forty-seven years, the Ayatollahs have forced Islam on my people — Islam in the schools, Islam in the courts, Islam on the flag. They planned the Islamization of Iran, and then of the world. As Joseph said to his brothers: “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). Everything they built is backfiring. Islam is truly dying in Iran. By the admission of the regime’s own clergy, 50,000 of Iran’s 75,000 mosques have closed their doors. And the church of Jesus Christ is growing faster in Iran than anywhere on earth. ICI has placed more than 1.5 million pieces of Christian literature into Persian hands — and the printing has never stopped, much of it on underground presses. We continually serve believers who are paying for their faith with imprisonment and exile. God announced this long ago: “But it shall come to pass in the latter days: I will bring back the captives of Elam,” says the LORD (Jeremiah 49:39). Elam is in Iran. The mosque is emptying. The Church is filling.

America, learn from our history. Refuse the leftist utopia promises. Guard your freedom. Stand with Israel. Stand with the Iranian church — because the same God who is emptying the mosques of Iran is able to awaken America’s church. I have already lost one country to these promises. I will not be silent, and I will not lose another.

Why Become a Monthly Partner?

Monthly Partners are an essential part of this ministry. The steady stream of support we receive from them allows us to plan and prepare for projects around the world and take the Gospel further and deeper into the Muslim world.

In a few days, we will hold a discipleship conference in the Middle East for Iranian believers coming out of Iran. Many have lived through war and months of fear, isolation, and uncertainty. For some, this will be their first opportunity in many months to worship the Lord freely, receive the teaching of the Word of God in person, fellowship with other believers, and be refreshed.

Then in September, we will return to the region for a major Bible distribution. Monthly partnership enables us to say yes to these God given opportunities and to be fully prepared.

Your monthly partnership fuels these important areas of ministry:

• Bible distribution and evangelism among Muslims in the Middle East and beyond
• Training indigenous pastors and church planters who become disciple makers inside Iran
• Printing and delivering discipleship materials to the underground church
• To travel throughout our beloved nation, the United States, teaching churches how to reach Muslims with the Gospel and warning about the growing influence of Islam in the West

Paul wrote to his ministry partners in Philippians 4:17:
“Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.” That is our heart for you.

Every Bible placed into a Muslim’s hands, every new believer baptized, every underground believer discipled, and every pastor trained through this ministry is fruit that abounds to your account in heaven.

Would you prayerfully consider becoming a Monthly Partner today?

Thank you for standing with us in the calling which God has called us to.

With love,

Mohamad Amin & Susan Faridi