Middle East (MNN) – On Wednesday, Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for striking a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea, and threatened to intensify attacks on Saudi shipping.
The Houthis have long been part of Iran’s regional network of proxy forces, but the renewed violence also risks drawing Saudi Arabia deeper into the broader U.S.-Iran conflict.
Heart4Iran’s executive director Edwin Abnous says the latest attacks are part of a much bigger picture.
“For decades, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been locked in a regional cold war, usually fighting through proxies in places like Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. Saudi Arabia worked hard to stay out of the current war. But Iran’s missiles and drone attacks, along with the Houthi strikes on Saudi shipping, are pulling Riyadh back in again.”
Iran has spent decades projecting power beyond its borders through allied militant groups like the Houthis. Meanwhile, Iranian civilians are the ones paying the price.
“Ordinary Iranians never chose this strategy. Billions of dollars have been spent on the foreign militias, [which] came at the expense of families inside Iran, and that has deepened the resentment toward the regime,” says Abnous.
“The Iranian regime knows its biggest weakness is not military power, but the loyalty of its own people, which is why thousands have reportedly been arrested since the fighting began – including the protesters, the journalists, students, Christians, and many other minorities.”
Amidst geopolitical tensions and internal strife, Heart4Iran sees another story unfolding in Iran beneath the surface: growing spiritual openness.
Abnous says, “I want to be very careful because I would never want to glorify war. War is horrific, and Iranians are suffering. We are also seeing that whenever this regime is shaken, spiritual hunger grows. People begin questioning the ideology that they were taught to trust, and many are asking deeper questions about God, truth, and Jesus.”
That spiritual hunger is meeting a bold underground Church, even as persecution intensifies.
“But here is the striking part: It is not stopping the Church,” says Abnous. “Believers continue to gather, worship, and share their faith despite these costs that they’re paying right now. They’re not asking for pity. They’re asking us to stand with them, and their courage shows how spiritually alive the underground Church in Iran really is.”
Abnous asks Christians to pray for Iranian believers facing surveillance, imprisonment, and persecution, as well as for civilians caught in the fighting. Pray also for ministries like Heart4Iran broadcasting the Gospel into Iran through satellite television and digital media.
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