Iran Shuts Down Last Presbyterian Church in Tehran

Iranian authorities finalized the seizure of St. Peter's Evangelical Church in Tehran in July 2026, shutting down the last functioning Presbyterian church in the country. The church, which had stood for 150 years, was taken over by the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order, a state-controlled entity enforcing a 1998 Revolutionary Court ruling.

Government officials sealed the church office and the office of the Synod's secretary, banning all religious gatherings at the site. The action left the Presbyterian denomination without any remaining property in Iran. As recently as 2023, six Presbyterian churches had been operating in the country.

The seizure forced out approximately 27 Assyrian and Armenian Christians who had lived in 20 residential units on the 10-acre compound. Many were low-income residents who had called the property home for years. By July 12, 2026, the final residents had been evicted, often with little financial compensation and restrictions on removing personal belongings.

The Iranian government justified the confiscation by arguing the church was founded by American missionaries and was therefore foreign-owned. Church leadership disputed this, saying deeds had been transferred to Iranian Christians before the 1979 revolution.

The closure fits a pattern of systematic dismantling of Protestant Christianity in Iran. Since 2014, the regime has barred Farsi-speaking converts from attending services. Over the past decade, authorities have closed, confiscated, or demolished multiple Protestant sites, including an Assemblies of God church in Gorgan and a Presbyterian church in Mashhad, which was demolished in June 2026.

The World Council of Churches and United Nations experts condemned the seizure, calling the forced evictions incompatible with international human rights law. They urged the Iranian government to reverse the action and stop intimidating the Christian community.