Mohabat News says that in the last few months a deliberate and focused campaign of threats and opposition against every and any religious belief that is contrary to those of the Shiites, especially against the Christian faith, has been underway and promoted by the Shiite clerics and all media outlets that are somehow connected with the religious elite of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"Although in the last several years the gravitation of the populous toward the Christian faith has been a source of aggravation for the ruling and religious elite of the government, the harsh statements and intimidating conduct of the religious leaders to the repressive actions of the security forces such as those of the Pasdaran Militia and media outlets belonging to these organisations have placed an ever-increasing pressure on Christian families and those who have recently become Christians," said their story.

According to reports obtained by Mohabat News from a local newspaper published in the Southern Khoarasan Province, Ayatollah Sobhani, a cleric leader in the province, in a recent meeting with several other clerics and religious leaders of the Islamic Guidance Foundation, warned these sources of the ever-increasing activities of local mystics and "false" Christians - Protestant and born-again Christians.

This high ranking cleric who has not given any definition for the term "false Christianity" has stated that, "these Christian evangelists have converted 600 people to Christianity in the city of Neyshabour."

Furthermore, he has not indicated how these numbers and statistics were gathered or which organisation has collected such information. Neyshabour is a city in the Razavi Khorasan province in northeastern Iran, near the regional capital of Mashhad.

The news agency said that Sobhani has made these claims following another recent claim made by Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani, a high ranking Shiite cleric, who said that he had the statistics of how many young people had become Christian in the city of Qum.

He severely criticised the security and government forces in neglecting this issue and demanded that this matter be dealt with in a strongest possible manner.

Khorasani in attacking the Pope in a very strong language claimed that he is actively attempting to spread Christianity inside Iran and warned the Vatican that such actions will result in exposing the Catholic Church for issues that would be very costly to the church.

Spiritual Awakening

"These confrontations between the security forces with Christians, especially those who have recently become Christians, proves that despite the ongoing suppression of believers and measures that have made life more and more difficult for the Christian community, people still and willingly embrace the Christian faith as their personal belief," said their story.

"The expansion and the ever-increasing gravitation of the youth towards Christianity is something that the Islamic Republic of Iran is well aware of.

"What is clear about the young generation inside Iran is that they have reached a degree of mental maturity that propels them to research and discover various beliefs and, despite their religious heritage, the freedom to choose the belief of their choice."