Iran Detains Pastor As Church Faces Closure In Wider Crackdown
A pastor of the Central Assemblies of God (AoG) Church in Tehran was detained Tuesday, May 21, as part of Iran’s wider crackdown on evangelical believers, Christian rights activists confirmed. The arrest of Reverend Robert Asserian came as his church prepared for possible closure by the end of June due to pressure from the feared Iranian Intelligence Ministry, said advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

Supporters of an American pastor imprisoned in Iran for his faith have appealed to the UN for help.
An American pastor already imprisoned in Iran for evangelizing was sentenced Sunday to eight years in prison for attempting to entice Iran’s youth away from Islam through his network of underground house churches.
The wife of a jailed Iranian-American pastor has denied Iran’s claims that her husband will be released on bail as an attempt to “silence the international media.”
Iran on Monday, January 7, released Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who was jailed on Christmas Day to serve the remainder of a sentence for evangelism among Muslims, his evangelical house church movement confirmed.
Massive arrests of evangelical Protestant Christians, including many former Muslims, are reported in Iran, with men and women being dragged to prisons across the Islamic nation.
Although Halloween isn’t celebrated in an Islamic Republic, state security agents have been scaring away potential parishioners from both St. Luke’s and St. Paul’s churches in Esfahan to prevent Iranians from following Christianity.