"Christianity is spreading in parts of Iran," announced Mahmoud Alavi, Iran’s Minister of Intelligence during a speech to Shia Muslim clerics at Qom (an Iranian city full of Islamic seminaries) on May 4th.   Alavi also confirmed that his Intelligence ministry has been summoning Christian converts for questioning. This is a public admission of the systematic violation of Iran’s own constitution, which states, “no-one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief.” He failed to mention that many converts also face arbitrary detention - often in solitary confinement - for weeks or months without charge or access to a lawyer. Some face physical, psychological and sexual abuse while in custody.   Seemingly in an attempt to downplay the significance of the conversions, Alavi declared that “these converts are ordinary people, whose jobs are selling sandwiches or similar things”. However, the reality is that people from all kinds of religious and socio-economic backgrounds are coming to Christ across Iran.     Please pray for the international community to use Alavi’s assertions to hold Iran to account for its abuse of Christian converts. Pray also for the clerics who were listening to Alavi to become curious about Christ as a result.   Please pray for Christians who are currently detained and being questioned - for wisdom in the answers they give, and for peace, strength and comfort.