More Christians are being arrested in Iran for no reason other than being followers of Christ.
Twenty-five Christians were recently arrested during a raid by authorities in the southern city of Kerman, according to the National Council of Resistance in Iran.
Based from the council's report, as published by The Christian Post, Iranian security officials raided the homes of Christians, confiscating their belongings and arresting 25 of them. No reason was given why they were arrested. Their whereabouts are also unknown.
Several arrests were also made in August, including the 11 Christians taken away by Iranian agents following a raid on a house church in the central city of Isfahan. The agents confiscated Christian literature found in the house.
On Aug. 26, government agents barged into a Christian picnic gathering in a garden near the capital Tehran. At least five people in that party were arrested, according to Morning Star News.
Aside from raiding house churches, police in Iran have also begun cracking down on Christian weddings and gatherings on the ground that Islamic principles are disregarded in these gatherings, according to Mohabat News.
Iranian authorities clearly made known their hostility towards Christians when on Christmas Day 2014, they raided a house church in Roodehen and arrested nine Christians celebrating the birth of Jesus.
The Iranian government even executed seven Christians on Christmas Day itself, according to NCRI.
Because of the persecution of Christians in Iran, believers can also worship secretly in house churches. Despite the secrecy, however, Christians are never far away from danger since Iran religious police are known to raid homes, arrest church leaders, worshipers and confiscate and destroy Bibles and other religious material.
Iran is ranked by Open Doors USA as the ninth worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution.
But despite the animosity shown by Iranian rulers toward Christians, Christianity is on the rise in the Islamic Republic, according to various sources.
One source close to the Iranian house church movement told The Christian Post in March that a "great, great number of Muslims are turning to Christ" and that there are anywhere from 450,000 to 1 million Christians living in Iran at present.
