Analysis. The totalitarian regime in Iran may be facing its most critical internal threat ever. Despite the government’s attempt to violently suppress them for three months, widespread protests across the country in challenge of the Ayatollah’s rule appear to be escalating. And now state agents are resorting to public hangings, a step that could signal a new phase in this struggle.

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The firestorm began after the mid-September death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian visiting Tehran. Iran’s “morality police” arrested the young woman allegedly for improperly wearing a hijab to cover her head and body, and the authorities reportedly rained down blows on her head while she was in custody. Demonstrations of solidarity with Amini swiftly spread to more than 80 cities across the country — even to some very religiously conservative areas.

While state agents attempt to censor information about the protests, some chants have reportedly included: “We don’t want the Islamic Republic,” “Khamenei is a murderer,” and “Death to the dictator!” The protests, often led by young women, many of whom are defying the regime symbolically by publicly burning hajibs and cutting their hair, are uniting Iranians across ethnic and class boundaries — people who are fed up with the repression, economic incompetence, and global extremism of their government.

As it has in the past, Iran’s regime is responding with force. In these attacks on the crowds, many civilians — including young children — are being harmed, and some have even been killed. Precise numbers are difficult to ascertain, but BBC recently confirmed the identities of more than 75 protestors killed and noted that some estimates suggest more than 400 may be dead.

One of these victims was 62-year-old Minoo Majidi. BBC’s article says she told her family: “If I don’t go out and protest, who else will?” Then she was reportedly gunned down by security forces in the western city of Kermanshah.

Majidi’s daughter, Roya Piraei, successfully posted a graveside photo of mourning and defiance on Instagram, and she told BBC: “I believe that what’s happening in Iran is not a protest any more. It started with a protest, but a revolution is taking shape.”

Iranian authorities must be concerned. Even as state leaders issue conflicting statements about the “morality police,” which may or may not be disbanded, they are also projecting renewed resolve against the demonstrations. Not only are arrested protestors subject to dangers while in custody and in prison, but death sentences are swiftly being issued to dozens of them — even, in recent days, to a professional soccer player (a very visible figure during the World Cup). And just recently, authorities carried out the execution of two individuals — both 23-year-olds — by public hanging.

The New York Times reports that the trials of these individuals are being compared by human rights groups to “lynching committees” without judicial due process. One source told the Times that they “are designed to repress the protests and create a climate of fear and intimidation in the society.” However, they may thereby be actually fueling the demonstrations rather than crushing them.

Certainly, the protests — and the violent attempts to crush them — are stirring a response abroad. For example, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Commissioner Eric Ueland last month said: “Despite government violence, arrests, mass trials, and death sentences, the Iranian people’s continuing struggle for religious freedom is inspiring.” He then called on the U.S. to “lead the international community in uplifting and amplifying the voices of Iranians calling for greater freedom of religion or belief.”

Notably, just last week the U.S. led an effort at the United Nations to expel Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women because of its brutality against women and girls. In addition, Congress appears to be considering a new response, as both the Senate Foreign Relations and the House Foreign Affairs committees have advanced identical resolutions in support of the Iranian demonstrators.

“The Iranian regime’s ongoing violent crackdown on protestors exposes its egregious denial of fundamental human rights and dignity,” said the resolution’s House sponsor, Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y. “We must do everything in our power to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its malign actions against its people and our partners in the region.”

Similarly, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the resolution’s Senate sponsor, said he intends to maintain a “spotlight on the Iranian regime’s crackdowns, shutdowns, and deflections in response to the demands of the Iranian people, and to call on our partners in the international community to stand with the people of Iran.”

Will you pray for light and liberty to break through in Iran? And will you pray especially for our our brothers and sisters in Christ there? Already they are under intense persecution (see this July IFA article), and recent reports suggest they are being pressured by Iranian agents to stay out of the protests — a matter that may be causing debate within the Christian community there. May followers of Christ in Iran be filled with wisdom and confidence as they navigate this struggle and seek to be agents of Christ’s light and love to their neighbors — especially in this Christmas season.

How are you praying for persecuted Iranians? Share your prayers and scriptures below.

Aaron Mercer is an IFA contributing writer with two decades of experience in the Washington, D.C. public-policy arena. Photo Credit: mostafa meraji on Unsplash.