by Uzay Bulut
Who is to enforce this fantasy agreement after Trump leaves office?
On June 17, US President Donald J. Trump signed the "Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU) with the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to its text, the US undertakes to develop a plan "with at least USD 300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran," and appears to be a deal to talk about a deal -- one that appears potentially to provide Iran's regime with almost every concession it asked for.
No matter where the funds come from, they will still be used to reconstruct Iran's terror state. Who is to enforce this fantasy agreement after Trump leaves office? The US won the war; why is Iran dictating its terms to the US? Worse, Iranian citizens, after being told that "HELP IS ON ITS WAY," will continue to face arrests, abuse, and multi-year prison sentences for "offences" such as incorrect hair covering on a woman, requesting freedom or converting to Christianity.
In Iran, leaving Islam is a crime punishable by death. The legal system allows capital punishment for apostasy and blasphemy. While apostasy is not explicitly written as a capital crime in Iran's formal penal code, the judiciary is empowered to use Islamic law (sharia) in situations where statutory law is silent. Those who abandon Islam can face the death penalty or be sentenced to life imprisonment. Individuals can also face the death penalty for insulting Islam's prophet Mohammad, speaking against Islam, or promoting atheism or non-Muslim religions.
Christians are among the more than 6,000 Iranians randomly arrested and, in some instances, subjected to enforced disappearances, since the start of the war, according to a recent report by Amnesty International.
On January 13, Trump urged protesters in Iran to keep going and promised that "HELP IS ON ITS WAY".
Trump's new agreement with this terrorist regime is a massive betrayal. It condemns Iranians indefinitely to abuse, torture and death.
A deal that allows the Islamic Republic of Iran, a major source of terrorism and instability in the Middle East and beyond, to stay in power means that women, Christians, human rights lawyers and other innocents will continue to be arrested, tortured, languish in jail, and killed.
By signing this MOU, Trump is not only betraying millions of Iranians who trusted the US and sacrificed their lives for freedom, but also, in "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," damaging both America's reputation and his own.
On June 17, US President Donald J. Trump signed the "Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU) with the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to its text, the US undertakes to develop a plan "with at least USD 300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran," and appears to be a deal to talk about a deal -- one that appears potentially to provide Iran's regime with almost every concession it asked for.
No matter where the funds come from, they will still be used to reconstruct Iran's terror state. Who is to enforce this fantasy agreement after Trump leaves office? The US won the war; why is Iran dictating its terms to the US? Worse, Iranian citizens, after being told that "HELP IS ON ITS WAY," will continue to face arrests, abuse, and multi-year prison sentences for "offences" such as incorrect hair covering on a woman, requesting freedom or converting to Christianity.
Christians especially remain highly vulnerable to arrest and persecution in the country.
Ghazal Marzban, a Christian convert from Islam, was arrested at her home in Tehran in January 2026. Her Bible and other Christian literature were confiscated, and she was recently sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison by the notorious Revolutionary Court Judge Iman Afshari, on charges including "propaganda against the state by chanting slogans" and "gathering and collusion against national security".
Marzban had previously been arrested in November 2024 and spent two months in Evin Prison for protesting against the harassment she had endured since converting to Catholicism seven years earlier.
When she was arrested in January, she was then taken to an unknown location, with no explanation given. Two hours later, she called home to tell her husband that she was detained in a Ministry of Intelligence facility, and subsequently held incommunicado for the next month.
According to the UK-based human rights group Article18, Marzban, an Islamic law graduate, was pressured during interrogation to admit that her Bible and other Christian literature were used for missionary purposes. She denied this, saying they were for personal use only and that, as a Christian, she had the right to possess them.
After her conversion, she was prevented from taking the bar examination and pressured to leave the country. Her husband, a fellow convert, was subsequently unable to access the medication required to manage his Parkinson's disease.
Due to her husband's condition, Article18's executive director, Mansour Borji, said, Marzban's imprisonment was really "a sentence for both of them."
The human rights organization Open Doors reported that Marzban has been on a hunger strike since May 25.
Bahar Sahraian, a reputable lawyer known for defending Christians and other political prisoners in Iran, was arrested on May 16 in the city of Shiraz. Her arrest occurred while she was working on cases at a Revolutionary Court.
She was taken to the prosecutor's office that morning and charged with "assembly and collusion to act against national security", "propaganda activities against the Islamic system", and "publishing falsehoods" -- and then sent to Adel Abad Prison.
In 2022, Sahraian was one of more than 30 lawyers arrested in the wake of the nationwide protests on the death of Mahsa Amini while in custody. At that time, thousands of protesters were awaiting trial but with no legal advice, amid calls for them to be sentenced to death -- a trend that continues today.
Sahraian's clients include Sam Khosravi and Maryam Falahi. Their adopted daughter, Lydia, was ordered by a court to be removed from their care because they had converted to Christianity and Lydia was considered to have been born a Muslim. In a separate case, Sara Ahmadi and Homayoun Zhaveh were sentenced to a combined 10 years in prison. Homayoun, in his 60s, suffers from advanced Parkinson's disease.
In Khosravi and Falahi's case, Sahraian managed to obtain two fatwas from Grand Ayatollahs – the most senior Shia Islamic authority in Iran – declaring that, owing to the "critical nature" of the case, poor health of the child and undisputed emotional attachment with her parents, Lydia's adoption by Christian converts was "permissible."
She was also one of 120 lawyers to sign an open letter to the head of the judiciary at the time, Ebrahim Raisi. The letter asked him to overturn the decision, and he denied the request.
Another lawyer who defended Christians, Shima Ghosheh, was arrested in January this year. In March, he was released on a bail equivalent to nearly $40,000 dollars.
He has represented Christians including the Iranian-Assyrian Bet-Tamraz family and converts facing charges of "apostasy", which in the past has brought death sentences.
In Iran, leaving Islam is a crime punishable by death. The legal system allows capital punishment for apostasy and blasphemy. While apostasy is not explicitly written as a capital crime in Iran's formal penal code, the judiciary is empowered to use Islamic law (sharia) in situations where statutory law is silent. Those who abandon Islam can face the death penalty or be sentenced to life imprisonment. Individuals can also face the death penalty for insulting Islam's prophet Mohammad, speaking against Islam, or promoting atheism or non-Muslim religions.
In many instances, those who leave Islam and embrace the Christian faith lose their jobs, sources of income, educational framework, and even their freedom.
Fatemeh Mary Mohammadi, a Christian convert who works as a human rights defender and journalist, was recently arrested and her whereabouts are unknown.
Mohammadi has been arrested many times on trumped-up charges related to her protesting against Iran's regime. In 2021, she was arrested again allegedly for wearing an "improper" hijab. For the next year after her release, she was denied employment.
On January 18, 2026, she was arrested again by Iran's "morality police," who said her trousers were too tight, her headscarf not correctly adjusted, and that she should not be wearing an unbuttoned coat.
Mohammadi had already spent six months in prison for membership in a house-church. Those who attend are regularly labelled by the Iranian regime as "enemy groups" who belong to a "Zionist" cult. She was also given a suspended prison sentence for participating in a peaceful protest.
She said that despite good relations with her employer, she has been unable to return to her work as a gymnastics instructor since her release from prison in 2020.
It was "very clear," Mohammadi said, that her employer had been pressured by intelligence agents to prevent her return to work. The employer said that they could not afford to take any risks because they had a young child.
She had been cautioned about an improper hijab once before – after having initially gone to the police to complain of an assault. In December 2019, she was expelled from her university on the eve of her exams.
In October 2020, Mohammadi remarked that being denied an education was "like a life imprisonment or exile that has been issued in absentia".
"Everything is affected. Your work, income, social status, identity, mental health, satisfaction with yourself, your life, your place in society, your independence.
"And as a woman it's even harder to remain patient and endure, in a society so opposed to women and femininity, though crying out for them both."
Earlier this year, while travelling, Mohammadi suddenly disappeared. Her family had been in regular contact with her before all communication ceased at the end of February. Amnesty International reported that she had been detained in Ahvaz but then moved to an unknown location on April 2.
Amnesty warned that she and the other detainees are "at grave risk, amid reports of torture and other ill-treatment in detention and deaths in custody in suspicious circumstances".
Open Doors reports:
"Sadly, such an incident is not rare in Iran, nor is the authorities' refusal to offer more information. Voices of justice for Christians and other minorities are often targeted for exposing government injustices in Iran, and Mary Mohammadi is prominent amongst dissidents supporting Christians. In 2023, she was presented with the St Stephen's Award for persecuted Christians at a ceremony in Bonn for her 'outstanding courage' and 'extraordinary selflessness'."
Christians are among the more than 6,000 Iranians randomly arrested and, in some instances, subjected to enforced disappearances, since the start of the war, according to a recent report by Amnesty International.
"Authorities have arbitrarily arrested, threatened and/or summoned hundreds of protesters; human rights defenders; lawyers; journalists and other media workers; civil society activists; labour rights' activists; students; teachers; justice-seeking families of protesters and bystanders unlawfully killed or arbitrarily executed; ethnic minorities, including Ahwazi Arabs, Baluchis, and Kurds; and religious minorities, including Baha'is and Christians...
"Amnesty International has documented torture and other ill-treatment against detainees since 28 February 2026, including mock executions through simulated hangings and putting a gun in the mouth, beatings, suspension from hands and feet, prolonged solitary confinement, and denial of food and medical care," the report states. "Authorities have also used forced 'confessions' as a propaganda tool, broadcasting videos on state media prior to judicial proceedings."
The report cites mass arrests in at least 20 provinces across the country. This includes Yazd, where in May a prosecutor claimed to have arrested three leaders of "a Christian evangelistic network".
According to Amnesty's Erika Guevara Rosas:
"The international community must not allow the Iranian authorities to use the conflict as a smokescreen to deepen their machinery of repression and carry out crimes under international law with impunity. Iran's human rights and impunity crisis requires urgent and sustained diplomatic international action to prevent further atrocity crimes by the authorities, as well as establishing pathways for international justice including through the UN Security Council's referral of Iran's situation to the International Criminal Court."
As many as 30,000 people were killed in the streets of Iran on January 8 and 9 alone, two senior officials of the country's Ministry of Health told TIME. So many people were slaughtered by Iranian security services on that Thursday and Friday that the state's capacity to dispose of the dead was overwhelmed.
On January 13, Trump urged protesters in Iran to keep going and promised that "HELP IS ON ITS WAY".
Trump's new agreement with this terrorist regime is a massive betrayal. It condemns Iranians indefinitely to abuse, torture and death.
A deal that allows the Islamic Republic of Iran, a major source of terrorism and instability in the Middle East and beyond, to stay in power means that women, Christians, human rights lawyers and other innocents will continue to be arrested, tortured, languish in jail, and killed.
By signing this MOU, Trump is not only betraying millions of Iranians who trusted the US and sacrificed their lives for freedom, but also, in "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," damaging both America's reputation and his own.
Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22630/iran-regime-remains-to-arrest-torture-kill
