Iran (MNN) — Over 100 former world leaders just sent a joint letter to current administrations, urging them to get tough on Iran.

The letter — addressed to heads of state in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and more – condemns Iran’s meddling in Ukraine. It also calls on leaders to support the Iranian people.

Executions spiked in May, making it Iran’s bloodiest month in the last five years. Iran led the world in executions last year with 576 – almost double the previous year – and is currently on pace to meet or exceed that total.

The regime’s violent crackdown comes in response to ongoing unrest. Tensions came to a head last fall after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. See our coverage here.

“The attention protesters got from the government as a result of their standing up is so horrific and brutal,” Transform Iran’s Lana Silk says.

“The government was embarrassed on a global scale for months last year, and they are retaliating.”

Even the families of protestors pay a high price. Members of the Basij – volunteers aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – ransacked the home of Majeed Kazemi, one of three protestors executed last Friday, two days after he was killed.

“They (Basij) beat his two brothers badly in front of his parents. They even beat his parents; they took the brothers away; no one knows where they are,” Silk says.

Protestors were back in the streets of Tehran this week after the government hung Kazim and two others. “These three men were accused of murder [but the] charges were made up. They were forced confessions. We know how it works in Iran,” Silk says.

“What happened to Majid and Saeed and Saleh [is] an example of the control that the government is putting onto the people.”

Connect with Transform Iran here to send tangible help and hope. Pray for God’s protective hedge around Transform Iran and its partners as they share the Good News of Jesus inside Iran.

“The people of Iran feel very isolated and hopeless. When we, as the body of Christ, come around them and say ‘We hear you, we see you’ – that is powerful,” Silk says.

“It’s encouraging and strengthening.”

 

Header image depicts former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence meeting with European leaders in 2017. Many of these leaders, Pence included, were signatories to the joint letter condemning Iran. (Wikimedia Commons)