Iranians shout slogans as one of them holds-up a placard with a Persian script that reads, “Death To The Liar” during a gathering to mark the victims of the Ukraine Boeing 737 passenger plane, in Tehran’s business district on January 11, 2020. (Credit: Moteza Nikoubazl, NurPhoto, Getty Images, via businessinsider.com).
Thousands of union workers, shop owners and pensioners took to the streets in strikes across Iran last week as public protests continued to gain momentum throughout the Islamic Republic. Video posted to social media showed demonstrators scuffling with police in the capital city of Tehran, as the regime continued to disrupt the strike marches with force.
In an unusual move of solidarity with protesters, more than 60 Iranian economists, including some who had previously served in the government, signed an open letter to the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi, advising that the “economic surgery” proposed by his government to alleviate food prices would not provide enough reform to significantly lower the near-50% inflation rate. The letter states that Iran’s “social chaos and worsening economic instability” will eventually lead to “repeated economic shocks” in the near future. One of the signatories, economist Mehdi Pazouki, boldly pinned the nation’s economic and social woes on “government mismanagement,” claiming that Raisi appointed unqualified leaders to important government posts from a particular tribe, including Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, who had previously shown antagonism towards reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government warned its citizens in Turkey to either leave the country immediately or shelter-in-place over the weekend, as intelligence warned that Iran had ordered IRGC operatives in Istanbul to murder Israeli citizens in their hotel rooms. Working with the Turkish government, several Israeli tourists were even evacuated from the country by armored vehicle, while the Turkish government claimed to have arrested several IRGC operatives. The operation shows Iran’s hardening position against the Jewish State, as Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to cease his cooperation with Iranian forces inside Syria, or face airstrikes against his presidential palaces.
The Wire interviewed several leader’s in Iran’s underground church network regarding the latest crisis inside their country, as spiking food prices, drought, and government corruption continue to take a toll on the Iranian people. Their answers to our questions reveal the level of crisis and despair inside Iran.
Question: How are food prices and the street protests affecting average Iranians?
Armin says, “When the prices increased, people became very afraid and worried and they aren’t able to buy anything they want anymore. This is happening to even the middle class. More and more people are fighting with each other, deceiving one another, and are ready to climb over each other to get an advantage.”
Asal says, “Unfortunately people don’t have anything to eat and it has affected their whole lives to the extent that they are even stealing grave stones from graves and selling them. [Some of ] those who have recently given birth either sell their babies or throw them in the trash dumpster. There is nothing people can do. With the slightest protest, they are quickly suppressed and taken to prison, and become more miserable.”
Davood says, “The effect has been so horrible that so many people have committed suicide because they cannot provide for their families. And for many, rebellion and complete depression are over the people. They protest, there is no satisfaction under any circumstances, violence against each other has increased tremendously, and the government has broken many relationship ties.”
Nastaran says, “People have had to remove a lot of things out of their lives. They are under a lot of pressure in terms of food and medicine, and things like meat, chicken, and fish, people can no longer buy. They are even unable to pay the rent on their home or shops, because they don’t have purchasing power. They are forced to hand over their shops to their owners at a total loss, and we’ve heard that many of them are losing their inventory. They have turned away from religion, they hate the Islamic Republic and some have realized that this misery comes from wrong beliefs and sin.”
Nima says, “Everyone is scared and concerned and many have begun to steal from their employers, where they work. The rate of theft and abuse in the city has increased. Many people are thinking about creating a safety margin for themselves by raising the prices, or have begun stealing whether from their jobs or from each other. The quality of everything has gone down and products have gone bad. The quality of everything is bad; clothing and everything else.”
Parsa says, “People can no longer eat just any food that they want, and those who used to spend money going out and having fun have much less. You see pain in people’s eyes. People mostly are compromising and protesting some, but they don’t dare to protest strongly. Instead, they put pressure on each other and the crime rate and wrongdoing has increased very much.”
Sayeh says, “Everyone is now saying they can’t afford to buy anything and the shops are all empty. The shop owners are saying it is so empty and no one is buying anything anymore. The people curse the Mullahs and they say they’ve stolen, civilization, the culture, and humanity, and everything else in Iran. [There is] anger towards the government, groaning and complaining, negative and hopeless words.”
Termeh says, “It has presented a big problem and people are really hungry. They are ransacking stores because it is too expensive to buy bread or even the basic necessities; because of the high cost, the people are powerless. Many are nervous and upset and have been attacking stores and, in some cases, even people, while waiting for the government and regime to do something. They see themselves as helpless.”
Eliya says, “The people are really tired and cut down and are disappointed and scared about the situation. We hear people say that their parents are having a hard time getting enough food to feed them. Statistics of those with depression has greatly increased. Many would like to leave Iran even, saying this is not a place to live and we are getting more and more miserable every day. All anyone wants to do is to escape and many have turned to drugs. They are tired of the situation they are in.”
Question: How can Western Christians pray for and support the Iranian underground churches?
Armin says, “In these difficulties, pray that people will understand and feel the absence of God and for the truth of Islam to be exposed.”
Asal says, “Please pray that through these difficulties, that people meet God and see Jesus in dreams and visions. Pray for those who truly have reached the end of the line, as a man and woman of peace, that God would bring one of his ministry servants to intersect their life and strengthen the servant for the work of God, and add faithful and capable servants to the service of God so that we can help the people even more.”
Davood says, “Prayer to truly touch the heart of the oppressor, touch the heart of the people, pray for open heaven over Iran so that Jesus’s light and the wisdom of God will come through.”
Nastaran says, “Please pray that God glorify His name through the miracles and blessings He gives to people while in these circumstances. [Pray] that people will come closer and closer to God. Pray I will be prepared to give verses, dreams, and visions to people to be readied to come to faith. Pray that God will awaken and unite believers for the Kingdom of God.”
Nima says, “Prayer is needed for people who are under these circumstances and these pressures to seek refuge in Christ and to help them come to faith, for even their fear will cause them to believe, so that this becomes their need which we can use to help them.”
Parsa says, “Pray that people don’t see this as just a season or chapter and think this will also pass and everything will be fine. Pray they will give up hope on Allah.”
Sayeh says, “Pray that these pressures and hardships do not cause people to doubt the goodness of God or cause them to disbelieve in God, but instead let these pressures and hardships cause people to turn away from Islam, and experience truth and salvation.”
Termeh says, “There is a lot of pressure and difficulty, please pray that more people will be touched by God. Pray that God will touch their hearts and that they will come to the real God. Because we are in this situation, and people have become disappointed with the God of Islam, we need to be touched and anointed and see more miracles, so that they understand the difference between the True God and the false God, which can only be done by miracles, and the touch and anointing of God.”
Eliya says, “Pray that the people will come out of their poverty and miserableness and use this situation for their salvation and to find hope to live, to remove the spirit of depression, grief, and despair, hopelessness, and faithfulness from our country and the Spirit of God to come.”
Maranatha!
