USA and Iran play on fear 40 years after the revolution

On May 9, President Donald Trump announced the USA would withdraw from the nuclear agreement. Since then, Iran has abandoned some of its commitments, Americans have mobilised one of the biggest aircraft carriers in the Persian Golf, two oil tankers have been attacked, and Iranian military has shut down a USA drone.

This sequence of events has tensed the relationship between the two countries up until Trump announced the USA would impose sanctions on the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, the Ayatollah Ali Jameini. “When the Iranian regime decides to forgo violence and meet our diplomacy with diplomacy, it knows how to reach us”, said the US State Department in a declaration on June 22.

The White House continues to look for international support in its hostile attitude towards Iran, an ally of Russia. “China gets 91% of its Oil from the Straight, Japan 62%, and many other countries likewise. So why are we protecting the shipping lanes for other countries (many years) for zero compensation. All of these countries should be protecting their own ships on what has always been a dangerous journey. We don’t even need to be there in that the U.S. has just become the largest producer of energy anywhere in the world”, Trump wrote on social media at the beginning of this week.

His words contrast with the meetings the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, had these days with the heir of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the king of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz. Pompeo described them as “two great allies in the challenge presented by Iran”.

USA Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, in a meeting with King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz. / Twitter @SecPompeo

MORE SUFFERING OF THE POPULATION

The recent rise in tensions between Iran and the USA, says a Christian source who resides in Iran and keeps his anonymity for security reasons, lead to “more restrictions for the population”.

“The government suspects of the population and accuses them of collaborating with the Americans. The area of information is an example of this - to access internet without being watched, we need to use alternative systems”.

This source in Iranian territory thinks that “only a change of government will help to start repairing this situation”, because the Iranian leadership “prefers to be destroyed dragging the people with them before giving in”. But it also says that the USA military movements and the heated statements in the last weeks “only harm the population more and more”. “The USA look for their own benefit, you only need to look at Iraq or Afghanistan”.

“PRAY FOR AN INTEGRAL TRANSFORMATION OF IRAN”

The situation has become especially vulnerable and fragile for the Christian population of Iran. According to Open Doors, Iran is the ninth country in the world when it comes to the persecution of Christians.

“Outwardly, the Iranian government boasts of some kind of religious freedom, but the reality looks very different”, says the anonymous Iranian source. “We are not allowed to freely proclaim the gospel and no person of Muslim origin can be found to be in touch with Christianity”.

The alleged openess that the nuclear deal was going to bring have not materialised. “It was all a facade. International businesses left the country, and the economic situation began to harden. The government has continued to oppress the people as before”.

Because of this, this person asks Christians in other parts of the world to pray for a situation in which diplomacy becomes increasingly inexistent, alluding to the Persian history and its relation to the story of the Bible. “Pray that the justice of God is made present and frees the Persian people of this suffering. When Israel was captive in Babylon, God used the Persian people to free them”.

“I have faith that God can use the Iranian people once more, but the Iranians cannot adore God because they are not allowed to get to know Him. Pray for an integral transformation of the nation”, the source asks.