이란 기독교인, 신앙으로 위기 극복 중
Concerned about the Iran Deal, Iranian Christians Look to God - Christianity Today
이란의 지상 정치적 긴장감이 지속되고 있으나, 시장에 즉각적인 영향을 미칠 만한 요인은 없어 중립적인 입장을 취하겠습니다.
핵심 요약
이란 기독교인 여성은 동네 각 문을 기름으로 바르며 기도했으며, 이란 정부는 1월 시위 중 수만 명을 죽였습니다.
핵심요약
- 이란 기독교인 1명이 IRGC 멤버가 있는 모스크가 근처에 있는 별장에서 피신
- 일일 가상 기도 모임에 참여한 1개 교회 네트워크
- 이란 정부가 1월 시위 중 수만 명을 죽임
도입
이란의 기독교 공동체는 현재 지극히 취약한 상태입니다. 이번 분석에서는 이란 기독교인의 신앙적 대응과 정치적 상황의 변화가 투자자에게 어떤 시사점을 제공하는지 살펴보겠습니다. 특히, 종교적 박해와 정치적 불안정이 어떻게 경제적 리스크로 이어질 수 있는지에 초점을 맞출 것입니다.
본문 1: 종교적 박해의 심화와 경제적 리스크
이란 기독교인 여성의 사례는 종교적 박해가 어떻게 개인적 안전과 경제적 안정성에 영향을 미치는지를 보여줍니다. IRGC 멤버가 있는 모스크가 근처에 있는 별장에서 피신한 사례는, 종교적 박해가 단순히 신앙의 자유를 침해하는 것을 넘어, 물리적 안전까지 위협할 수 있음을 시사합니다. 이는 이란 내 기독교 공동체의 경제적 활동에도 부정적인 영향을 미칠 수 있습니다. 예를 들어, 기독교인 기업가들이 자신의 신앙 때문에 비즈니스 운영에 제약을 받을 수 있으며, 이는 이란 경제 전체의 다양성과 성장 가능성을 저하시킬 수 있습니다. 따라서 투자자는 이란의 종교적 박해가 경제적 리스크로 이어질 수 있음을 고려해야 합니다.
본문 2: 정치적 불안정성의 장기적 영향
이란의 정치적 불안정성은 장기적으로 경제적 성장과 안정성에 부정적인 영향을 미칠 수 있습니다. 특히, 이란 정부가 1월 시위 중 수만 명을 죽인 것은 정치적 불안정성이 얼마나 심화되었는지를 보여줍니다. 이는 이란 경제의 투명성과 예측 가능성을 저하시키고, 외국인 투자자를 포함한 모든 투자자에게 부정적인 신호를 보낼 수 있습니다. 또한, 정치적 불안정성은 이란 경제의 구조적 문제를 해결하는 데 필요한 개혁을 지연시킬 수 있습니다. 따라서 투자자는 이란의 정치적 불안정성이 장기적으로 경제적 성장을 억제할 수 있음을 고려해야 합니다.
결론
이란의 기독교 공동체는 종교적 박해와 정치적 불안정성 속에서 신앙을 통해 위기를 극복하고 있습니다. 그러나 이는 이란 경제 전체에 부정적인 영향을 미칠 수 있습니다. 투자자는 이란의 종교적 박해와 정치적 불안정성이 경제적 리스크로 이어질 수 있음을 고려해야 하며, 장기적으로 이란 경제의 성장 가능성을 평가할 때 이러한 요소를 반드시 반영해야 합니다. 향후 이란의 정치적 상황과 종교적 박해의 동향을 지속적으로 모니터링하는 것이 중요합니다.
Original Article
Concerned about the Iran Deal, Iranian Christians Look to God - Christianity Today
A few days after the Iran war began on February 28, a Christian convert and her family fled Tehran for their villa near the Caspian Sea. She hoped to avoid the airstrikes hitting the capital, but soon realized she faced a new danger.
“I’m terrified to death,” she told Nahid Sepehri, executive director of the Iranian Bible Society, on a voice call made using Starlink. The Christian mother explained that a mosque next door to her villa was housing members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). She feared US forces would identify their location and bomb her neighborhood.
Sepehri and her husband, Mansour Khajehpour, prayed with her from the Seattle suburb where they live. The couple serves a large network of Iranian house churches through their church, Crossroads at Lake Stevens.
The following day, the mother called again to say she was no longer afraid because if she died, she would be in the presence of Christ. If she lived, she had a mission to accomplish: She had started praying over her neighborhood, anointing each door with oil and even knocking on neighbors’ doors, encouraging them not to worry because the Lord would protect the neighborhood.
“Their trust in God is amazing,” Sepehri said of their house church members who have faced myriad challenges yet regularly join their daily virtual prayer calls. To this day, the woman’s neighborhood has not been bombed.
As the United States and Iran sign a deal to end the war, some Iranians have expressed disappointment that the agreement leaves Tehran’s repression apparatus intact with no visible improvement in human rights and religious freedom. The regime killed an estimated tens of thousands of people during widespread protests in January, and many Iranians looked to the US and Israel for rescue. Days after the massacre, President Donald Trump posted on social media that help was on its way.
“The external hope in the governments—such as the United States—is gone,” Khajehpour said. “We cannot trust the foreigners.”
Khajehpour said that while his house church members celebrated the partial restoration of internet access on May 26 after an 88-day blackout , many of the 34 Christians on his ministry call last week had concerns about the negotiations and what they might mean for the future of Iran. On a separate call, two Iranian Christians shared their worries that by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU), Trump failed to understand what they described as the “tricky” nature of the Islamic regime.
The agreement with Iran aims to return shipping in the Strait of Hormuz to its prewar levels, halt airstrikes, and create terms for future talks on Iran’s nuclear program. Critics of the deal argue that it gives Iran sanctions relief, allows Tehran to immediately begin selling oil, and doesn’t address many of the key concerns the Trump administration outlined before the war began, including Iran’s funding of proxy groups and its expansive ballistic missile program.
Some analysts say the deal favors Iran and is worse than the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that was signed by former President Barack Obama and criticized widely by Trump.
Over the weekend, US and Iranian negotiators began working through the deal’s implementation during talks in Switzerland and drafted a 60-day roadmap for ending the war. Vice President JD Vance said Iran had agreed to reinstate inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The US and Iranian delegates briefly delayed the talks—originally scheduled for last Friday—after Iran signaled it may not participate due to renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israelis have voiced particular concern over the memorandum’s stipulation that Israel halt its military campaign against Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy that has continued firing missiles and drones into northern Israel from its base in Lebanon.
“An Iranian regime with more resources is a catastrophe for Israel because that regime will double down on everything they’ve already done, but do it better,” said Alberto Fernandez, a former US ambassador and vice president of the Middle East Media Research Institute. In 2025, Iran faced serious economic challenges yet funneled around a billion dollars to Hezbollah, he added.
Fernandez, who also serves on the board of advisors for the advocacy group In Defense of Christians, said he is concerned about the fate of Iran’s Christian community in the weeks and months ahead. When political Islam runs into trouble—as Tehran did during the US-Israeli military operations in 2025 and 2026—it often amps up persecution against ethnic and religious minorities, he noted.
“In Iran, Christians are heavily persecuted, but they’re generally not executed for the crime of apostasy,” he said. “So it can get better for them, but it can also get worse.”
Fernandez is taking a “wait and see” approach to the deal, noting that little is known about the current regime. US and Israeli strikes have killed key leaders in its political and military sectors, and he believes shifts in the country’s leadership dynamics could play out over time.
One possible scenario Farsi-speaking Iran experts have suggested involves the IRGC wresting power from the clerical establishment and remaining a military dictatorship while allying with the urban elite who are demanding reform, Fernandez said.
“I am hopeful—and we do have to pray about it—that internally there are things happening that we’re not aware of,” Fernandez said. “Only the Lord knows, because on the surface, it doesn’t look great, but we don’t have all the facts.”
David Yeghnazar, executive director of the UK-based Elam Ministries, talked to more than 40 Iranian Christians over the past week or so. He said Christians, like the majority of Iranians, had been hoping for accountability for the January massacres.
“As there may be disappointment that it might not happen soon, they are prepared to trust God and believe that he will continue to be with his church inside the country in the midst of their pain and suffering,” he said.
Yeghnazar, a native of Iran, said living conditions in his homeland have worsened since the war began: He has heard stories about people running out of money and food and struggling to pay their bills. Many have shifted their focus toward survival and would welcome the economic relief included in the deal yet are concerned about the money reaching the people.
During a June 18 press conference, Vance said Tehran won’t receive any of the $300 billion outlined in the MOU for reconstruction and economic development “unless they totally transform themselves as a country.”
Khajehpour said those who have experienced the regime’s brutality have little faith in its ability to moderate. “We have been in prison two times in Iran. We have had friends killed,” he said. “The Iranian government, in my opinion, is going to gather momentum in becoming more dictatorial and brutal.” Tehran has accelerated executions of dissidents in recent months, according to The Wall Street Journal .
Khajehpour believes Iran will also intensify its bullying in the region by increasing its proxy activity. “I was very hopeful that the US intervention—with the support of Israeli forces—would [do] the unimaginable for us in a short time [frame],” he said. “I started thinking of a ‘fast food’ style of change.”
The circumstances of the past five months have taught Khajehpour to trust in God who, unlike leaders and governments, doesn’t disappoint, he noted. He has observed God’s hand at work in the suffering, slowly preparing a feast in the wilderness for the people of Iran and growing the church.
One example: Khajehpour was the first Muslim convert to Christianity in both his family and in his neighborhood. Now he believes the city where he professed faith in 1981—one of the most religious cities in Iran—has more house churches than mosques.
“God is using all the ingredients of human atrocities throughout history to fulfill his mighty will,” Khajehpour said. “Something good is cooking in the kitchen, and we have started smelling a good aroma.”