An Iranian believer’s unique perspective on the war with Israel – interview with Sahar Nazari

Sahar Nazari was born in the Iranian capital Tehran but fled with her family in the early 1990s when the persecution of Christians began to intensify. Today, she is married to another Iranian believer from a Muslim background, and together they lead a church serving a large Farsi-speaking community in the United Kingdom. Before taking on that role, the Nazaris had the opportunity to live and study in Israel for five years – an experience that gave them a unique perspective on the current situation.

Nazari shared her insights with ALL ISRAEL NEWS about the unfolding events in Iran and their significance for Iranian believers both within the country and scattered abroad.

“My dad, who is a former Muslim, is a pastor and he was leading house churches.

“There were lots of underground groups that were going on,” she recalled, “and they started to put more pressure on the church.” Facing the threat of persecution, the family made the difficult decision to leave Iran in search of safety and the freedom to worship openly.

Nazari continued, explaining that her father was threatened and taken into prison.

"He was asked to give a list of names of who in his church had converted to Christianity, that kind of thing. He refused, so he had to be bailed out by two friends. The elders in the church told him that it wasn't safe anymore for him and his family, so that's why we decided to flee the country and come to the UK.” 

“A year after we left Iran, we heard one of his colleagues was killed and actually while we were still there, another of the pastors was executed, so we knew that things were serious. That pastor lived in another city, in Mashhad, but it was a year after we had arrived in the UK that we heard about that other pastor. He was found dead, stabbed 27 times.”

Here is the rest of the interview:

ALL ISRAEL NEWS (AIN): How does it feel watching Middle East events from the UK?

SAHAR NAZARI: I'm just really frustrated that I get asked, “Oh, how are things in Iran?” or “How are you finding this situation?” And then when I tell people how I feel, they just dismiss me, because they don't get the answer that they are expecting.

AIN: What are they expecting? 

NAZARI: They're expecting for me to say, “Oh, it's awful I can't believe this is happening, please pray that Israel would stop,” but I instead I say, “Well, I don't like war, war is horrific, but people are celebrating in Iran that this happening,” and they just change the subject, you know?

One person looked a bit like, “What are you saying?” And then when I explained about why I think this, and some of the horrors that this government has done, and they said to me, 'Oh, it's really difficult to stand up and be different to what the media is saying, isn't it? Because you don't want to look like a weirdo.' They said that to me just yesterday.

(Nazari said their church in central England has about 20 Iranian believers, with another 50 attending her father's church nearby. Together, they stay closely connected to the diaspora, many of whom have loved ones still in Iran).

AIN: What are the believers in Iran feeling at the moment?

NAZARI: We've got people from our church who have said that they've got family who are going out or who are moving from the city. They are worried, but they are happy,” she says. “They are worried for their families, obviously. Some of them have got wives and kids there. They are worried about what's going to happen and how it will unfold. They say you can't get money out of ATMs for whatever reason, so it's hard for them to buy fuel and leave.

It's a dangerous situation. It's a war and people will perish. They just don't want to be in the way of danger so they're worried in that sense. But they’re just praying for this to happen as quick as possible, basically.

It seems that some people are staying put in Tehran and in Qom, a city near Fordo, just because they're stuck, they can't go. It looks like either they don't have means to go or they just don't want to leave their home for fear of people stealing their stuff. My mum was saying that she's heard a journey that takes two hours to leave the city is taking 17 hours. It's packed. The roads are jammed. It's very difficult. And if there is a strike on Fordo that means the whole city of Qom, which is regarded as a religious city, will be radioactive and will be really harmful to the people who have stayed there. We've got people from church whose family are there and they're worried about them. So, please continue to pray.

AIN: What do you want people in the West to know about the situation?

NAZARI: I want people to know about the horrors of the Iranian government. We've got people in our church who have come to Christ, who have deep, deep wounds. To give just one example, there was a guy who was giving his testimony – a grown man with his kids. He was saying his dad went missing for about 11 months and then he got a call from the government in Iran saying, 'We’ve executed your dad.' Maybe he said something that he shouldn't have said, or something like that, but he was a good man, a good father. But he went missing, and they didn't even have the dignity to tell his family that he was in prison. They just executed him, and then they called his family and said, ‘you have to come and pay for the rope that we executed him on.’ 

Also, this man’s daughter was excluded from school – she's just a 13-year-old girl – but she refused to walk over the American or Israeli flag just because everyone else was, and she had two friends who she influenced not to walk over with her. So they excluded her from school, said she's not allowed to go and she was disciplined.

So this is an evil government, and this is the kind of thing they're up to. There are people of Iran who have been praying for 47 years for an end to this misery. People are fed up, and people want an end to it.

(During a prayer meeting at their church, Nazari said some Iranian believers were in tears of joy, thanking God for Israel rising up like lions to fight to sever the head of the serpent. One declared, “The Messiah, his name is The Lion of Judah!”) 

NAZARI: They brought sweets to church on Sunday, they came in very happy and celebrating because they had heard that Khomeini had evacuated his post and was on the run. They were very happy about that.

Nazari said their prayers were full of thanksgiving and faith that at last freedom is coming to Iran in the not too distant future, and they can at last see a time coming when they can return to rebuild their land.

(They also read the prophecy in Jeremiah 49 together concerning Elam, which is part of Iran today – see below).

NAZARI: There were big grown men praying in tears about what they had heard when someone shared this passage, because they were so excited to hear that God loves Iran. He has plans for Iran.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might. And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven. And I will scatter them to all those winds, and there shall be no nation to which those driven out of Elam shall not come. I will terrify Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, my fierce anger, declares the Lord. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them, and I will set my throne in Elam and destroy their king and officials, declares the Lord. "But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 49:35-39)