U.S.-Iranian Pastor Abedini’s Ordeal in Iran Tests, Builds Faith of Wife, Children

Both Pastor Saeed Abedini and his wife Naghmeh are modern-day confessors for Christ. Keep them in your prayers.

U.S.-Iranian Pastor Abedini’s Ordeal in Iran Tests, Builds Faith of Wife, Children

Morning Star News — September 29, 2015

Addressing president of Iran or her kids, Naghmeh Abedini chooses words carefully.

Naghmeh Abedini,

wife of U.S.-Iranian pastor

Saeed Abedini. (Facebook photo)

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani yesterday declined to meet with the wife of imprisoned U.S.-Iranian- pastor Saeed Abedini during his trip to the United Nations, days after the Christian’s wife learned he had recently been tortured.

Rouhani instead said in a television interview that releasing Iranian criminals held in U.S. prisons would change the “atmosphere and environment,” hinting that such a change would be necessary for possibly freeing prisoners such as Abedini. The Iranians in question were sentenced to prison for violating the international trade embargo placed on Iran for trying to develop nuclear weapons, Rouhani said.

“There are a number of Iranians in the United States who are imprisoned, who went to prison as a result of activities related to the nuclear industry in Iran. Once these sanctions have been lifted, why keep those folks in American prisons? So they must be freed,” he said Sunday (Sept. 27) on CNN through an interpreter. “If the Americans take the appropriate actions vis-a-vis Iranian citizens who are being imprisoned here, then the right atmosphere and environment will be created for reciprocal action perhaps.”

Rouhani left New York Monday afternoon (Sept. 28) without responding to a request by Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh Abedini, for a meeting. She and lawyer Tiffany Barrans, international legal director for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), will remain in New York in hopes of meeting with Gholam Ali Khoshroo, the Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations.

Naghmeh Abedini reaffirmed her husband’s innocence and said the Iranian government is treating him “like a pawn in a game of chess.”

“President Rouhani’s demand that America release 19 criminals in exchange for his consideration of releasing individuals like my husband, imprisoned solely for his faith, demonstrates that the Iran of today is no different than the Iran who took Americans hostages during the Iranian revolution,” she said in a press statement. “The environment is ripe for Iran to demonstrate it is ready to re-enter the global market and international scene of diplomats; it is time to show its good will, to change its image from one of a pariah to a member of the global society who will protect fundamental rights.”

Naghmeh Abedini commemorated the three-year mark (Sept. 26) of her husband’s wrongful imprisonment with fasting and candlelight prayer vigils as she prepared for the possibility of meeting with the president of Iran. On Sunday (Sept. 27), she attended a prayer vigil in Boise, Idaho, where she lives with the couple’s son and daughter.

The vigil, one of more than 810 held last week around the world, according to the ACLJ, was held a week after she addressed more than 100 parliamentarians from almost 50 countries at the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief. After her presentation, 67 parliamentarians signed a letter to the speaker of the Iranian Parliament calling for Abedini’s release.

Torture

A few days after the parliamentary meeting, Naghmeh Abedini received word from her in-laws that her husband had been tortured once again by prison officials.

Pastor Saeed Abedini 'Viciously Beaten' in Iranian Prison, Told His Only Way Out Is to Deny Jesus Christ

"Abedini has been repeatedly told his prison sentence will be increased unless he denies his Christian faith — something his wife insists her husband will not do."

Pastor Saeed is one of the great Christian confessors of our time. His wife, Naghmeh, labors unceasingly on his behalf, trying to raise American awareness of his plight and that of other Christians imprisoned in Iran, but the Obama administration negates her efforts. 

Spineless and deceptive U.S. officials will have much to answer for at the judgment, as they aid Muslim persecution of Christians in the Middle East and all around the globe.

Related: Iran Sentences 18 Christians to Prison in New Crackdown on Christianity

via "Pastor Saeed Abedini 'Viciously Beaten' in Iranian Prison, Told His Only Way Out Is to Deny Jesus Christ"

by Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post, June 11, 2015

Pastor Saeed and his family, before he was imprisoned
by the Iranian regime for his faith in Jesus Christ.

American pastor Saeed Abedini has reportedly been "viciously beaten" by fellow prisoners in an unprovoked attack in the Iranian prison where he's being held. The pastor was punched in the face, leaving his eyes beaten black and blue, but prison guards intervened and prevented further injury.

The American Center for Law and Justice, the law group which represents his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and the couple's two children in the U.S., said that the prisoners also demolished a small table that the pastor had used to study and read during the beating that he endured last week.

Abedini was allowed to see a prison doctor, who determined that he does not have any broken bones. On Wednesday, he was able to see a family member who came to visit him and see his injuries first hand.

"It is heartbreaking to me and my family that Saeed was again beaten in prison. Saeed's life is continuously threatened not only because he is an American, but also because he is a convert from Islam to Christianity. It's time to get Saeed home before it is too late," Naghmeh Abedini said in response to the news.

Back in May, Abedini marked his 35th birthday in prison, where he has spent over two and a half years for his Christian faith. He was arrested in Iran in 2012 while working on an orphanage for children, and later sentenced to eight years in prison.

Biggest Threat Now is not Radical Islam. It is 'Apocalyptic Islam'

"For the first time in all of human history, we have not just one but two nation states whose rulers are driven not by political ideology — or even mere religious theology — but by apocalyptic, genocidal End Times eschatology."

Related:

• All articles by Islamic Eschatology Scholar Timothy Furnish
• ‘What ISIS Really Wants’- Review of Graeme Wood’s article in The Atlantic.
• Persecution of Christians a Significant Indicator of Future World Chaos

The biggest threat now is not Radical Islam. It is 'Apocalyptic Islam'. Let me explain. 

by Joel C. Rosenberg, February 27, 2015 - (hat tip to John B.)

Joel C. Rosenberg addressing the National Religious

Broadcasters Convention (photo credit: NRB)

(Nashville, Tennessee) — Yesterday, the Christian Post published the following article: “ISIS, Iran Are Agents of ‘Apocalyptic Islam’ Paving Way for ‘Islamic Messiah,’ Says NYT Bestselling Author.” I hope you will take a few moments to read it and consider the analysis.

Last night, I discussed this subject in more detail at the closing dinner of the National Religious Broadcasters convention. Here are excerpts from those remarks. I also promised to post stunning research data on the End Times beliefs of Muslims from a 2012 Pew Research Center study. You will find those numbers below.

—————

THE THREAT OF “APOCALYPTIC ISLAM”

The threat we face is not simply from Radical Islam. Indeed, it not even primarily from Radical Islamic groups like Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and al Qaeda at this hour, as serious as these threats are.

The most serious threat we face in the Middle East and North Africa is what I call “Apocalyptic Islam.”

This term — “Apocalyptic Islam” — is one that each of needs to become familiar with and begin to teach others. Why? Because for the first time in all of human history, we have not just one but two nation states whose rulers are driven not by political ideology — or even mere religious theology — but by apocalyptic, genocidal End Times eschatology.

The Islamic Republic of Iran today is ruled by an apocalyptic, genocidal death cult. (see also here and here)

So is the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. (see here and here)

The former are Shia. The latter are Sunni. Both believe the End of days has come. Both believe their messiah – known as the “Mahdi” — is coming at any moment. Both are trying to hasten the coming of the Mahdi. Yet each has entirely different strategies to hasten his arrival or appearance on earth.

Implausible Deniability - West's ISIS Terror Hordes in Iraq

"The West knew the sectarian genocide now unfolding in Syria, Iraq, and soon in Lebanon was the inevitable result of their efforts to raise this regional mercenary force."

August 8, 2014 (Tony Cartalucci - LD) - The US has pledged assistance for victims of and even possible "airstrikes" against terrorists who have surrounded and threaten to eradicate thousands of religious minorities in Iraq. However, the terrorists themselves are a product of US foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa, and instrumental in achieving Western objectives across the region. Punitive strikes and aid to the victims of what is essentially a Western mercenary army is part of maintaining plausible deniability. 

The terror hordes originated from NATO territory and have inundated Syria, Iraq, and now Lebanon. The goal of this well funded, heavily armed, professionally organized mercenary force is clearly to supplant pro-Iranian political and military fronts across Tehran's arc of influence - from Baghdad to Damascus, to Lebanon and Hezbollah along the Mediterranean. In the process, the heavily indoctrinated rank and file have committed horrific atrocities ranging from rape and torture to mass executions and sectarian genocide. While such war crimes have been taking place in Syria since 2011, it is becoming increasingly difficult to cover up similar crimes beyond Syria's borders under narratives of "civil war" linked to the so-called "Arab Spring."

Image: ISIS began its invasion into Iraqi territory from NATO-member Turkey, through Syria and riding in Toyota Hilux trucks - identical to those provided to "moderates" by the US State Department as part of multi-million dollar "non-lethal" aid packages. ISIS did not take these trucks from "moderates," the moderates never existed to begin with. From the beginning, it was the West's plan to raise a mercenary army of sectarian extremists operating under the banner of Al Qaeda. 

Instead, various stories have been used by the West to explain the appearance of ISIS in Iraq, the unprecedented scale of its operations, its convoys of matching vehicles and now military trucks, artillery, and even tanks. While the world is meant to believe ISIS spontaneously rose from the desert and "stole" billions in cash, weapons, and gear, a much simpler and documented explanation exists - Western state sponsorship - and state sponsorship that continues even as the West denounces the monsters of their own creation.

The Hour of ISIS Power: How Did It Come To This?

Timothy Furnish provides the most helpful and substantive overview of ISIS and the Middle East situation which I have yet seen. This is a 'must read', complete with a series of maps to augment the historical overview, analysis of the theological and eschatological dimensions, and a warning of what is to come.

The Hour of ISIS Power: How Did It Come To This?

by Timothy R. Furnish, PhD.
Mahdi Watch - June 17, 2014

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham [Greater Syria], also known (less accurately) as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, is for all its brutality—beheadings, destroying churches, mass executions—no longer merely a terrorist organization; it has now formed a renegade military theocracy and is in the process of creating a new Sunni territorial state in the Middle East.   ISIS’s current area of control is roughly along these lines: How did it come to this?  Geographically, the Middle East is not just reverting to its more natural pre-World War I Ottoman-era delimitations, but is falling back into something more resembling the geographical layout imposed by the Abbasids in the 8th-13th centuries AD: Baghdad was the imperial center for the Abbasids, and not merely a provincial capital as it was under the Ottomans.  Indeed, it may well be that ISIS aims to take Baghdad in order to cement its self-styled ambition to recreate the caliphate—since the Arab Abbasid Caliphate (not the Turkish Ottoman one) is considered by many Arabs to be the “Golden Age” of Islamic civilization.

BIPARTISAN GOVT REPORT FAULTS OBAMA ADMINISTRATION FOR IGNORING PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS

Pro-Muslim, Anti-Christian 'Obama Doctrine' exposed in Government Report.

Good to see an actual bi-partisan government report drawing attention to what Raymond Ibrahim, I and others have been reporting on for years now. But the wording and emphasis of the report's conclusions are not strong enough. 

The foreign and domestic policy choices and alliances of President Barak Hussein Obama reveal a strategic shift in U.S. orientation. In fact, we can point to and identify a specific "Obama Doctrine" which confers preferential treatment and standing upon Muslim nations and extremist groups, at the direct expense of basic safety, freedom and aid to indigenous Christians abroad, and Christian believers and organizations, including Christian churches, at home.

Regarding foreign policy, the Obama administration has explicitly allied with Islamic extremists in Egypt, Libya, Syria and elsewhere, its official support providing direct aid, "soft power," and diplomatic cover for what more than one non-partisan conference has termed an "apocalyptic," "genocidal" persecution of Christians of "biblical proportions."

Raymond Ibrahim terms the Obama Doctrine as "Obama's Proxy War on Mideast Christians," and I have written very strongly against the Obama Doctrine, including the following original articles: 

• On The Wrong Side of History (July 2013)
• Obama Doctrine makes U.S. a 'Sinister Bystander' (July 2013)
• The Obama Doctrine: Known by its Fruits (Sept. 2012)
• Repealing the Edict of Milan: Obama as the anti-Constantine (Oct. 2013)

REPORT FAULTS OBAMA ADMINISTRATION FOR IGNORING PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS

by William Bigelow, Breitbart News — May 7, 2014

A new report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan group, asserts that the Obama administration is turning a blind eye to persecution of Christians by Muslims in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, as well as persecution of Christians in North Korea.

Dwight Bashir, the commission's deputy director of policy and research, told FoxNews.com:

While the Obama administration should continue to shine a spotlight on abuses through public statements, it also should impose targeted sanctions to demonstrate that there are consequences, too. By not utilizing an existing legislative tool, the United States risks sending the message that it prefers a nuclear deal to standing up for the rights of the Iranian people. The United States should not be confronting such a scenario in the first place.

The worst 16 countries that violated religious freedom were listed in the report. Iran, the report stated, had gotten even less tolerant after "purportedly moderate President Hassan Rouhani" ascended to the presidency last year. Of Iran, the report added, “As of February 2014, at least 40 Christians were either in prison, detained or awaiting trial because of their religious beliefs and activities.”

Morad Mokhtari, an Iranian human rights researcher who is Christian, stated that Rouhani “has not been effective in changing the judicial system” and there is no way to ascertain if he will challenge Iran’s sharia law.

Saudi Arabia was targeted in the report, which stated, “Not a single church or other non-Muslim house of worship exists in the country.” Some Saudi Arabian textbooks in 2013 and 2014 “justified violence against apostates and polytheists and labeled Jews and Christians ‘enemies.’"

Barack Obama never brought up the Saudi intolerance when he visited the country in March, despite the fact that a bipartisan group of 70 members of Congress asked him to discuss human rights with the Saudi government.

Atlanta: Muslim student severely burned in Molotov cocktail fire dies from injuries

Another example of the diverse mosaic of Islam in America. 

An update on this story. “Burned Georgia Tech student dies from injuries,” by Alexis Stevens for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 6, via Jihad Watch:

The Georgia Tech graduate student burned over 90 percent of his body last month died Thursday, the Institute said.

Saamer Akhshabi was burned in a Feb. 4 explosion inside his apartment, where investigators found a suspected Molotov cocktail and several plastic bottles filled with gasoline and kerosene. Akhshabi, 26, was transported in critical condition to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died early Thursday, Georgia Tech shared with the campus.

Islamism's Unfolding War for the Middle East

"The Shia empire of Iran now faces the Sunni empire of Saudi Arabia (which supports the rebels in Syria, as well as various other Sunni governments in the region). Each acts as if campaigning for the job of power centre..."

By Robert Fulford

National Post via AINA — Feb 22, 2014

In Qamishli, a northeastern Syrian city of 200,000, members of the country's ethnic Kurd minority are working on a constitution. They are unrecognized by the UN or any national government; but amidst the centrifugal chaos of Syria's civil war, they are managing to act a lot like a small state.

Syria's Kurdish population is tiny compared to its Arab majority. Yet they are creating an autonomous government. Their police, the People's Protection Units, authorized by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, keep the streets comparatively safe. Their municipal government issues building permits. Schools teach Kurdish. They expect democracy will come to Syria as a federal system, with a Kurdish province. Looking farther, they dream about a pan-Kurdish nation, uniting them with Kurds from Iraq, Iran and Turkey.

Iran today clearly hopes to becomes a regional hegemony, much like the Turks in Ottoman days or the Persian empire. Iran's Shiite Muslim rulers connect with the Alawite rulers of Syria and the Shiite populations of Iraq and Lebanon. By funding and training Hezbollah, Tehran transformed Lebanon into a de facto Iranian province. Hezbollah now has enough seats in the Lebanese government to veto any bill, an army at least as powerful as the government's and its own broadcasting system. With Hezbollah as its willing partner, Iran can now destabilize any power in the region. Many countries, including Canada, call Hezbollah a terrorist organization. But it's closer to a shadowy version of a state.

In the current issue of Middle East Forum, Jonathan Spyer has an article entitled "Do Syria, Iraq and Lebanon Still Exist?" Of course they do, but parts of them are effectively dependencies of Iran.

The Shia empire of Iran now faces the Sunni empire of Saudi Arabia (which supports the rebels in Syria, as well as various other Sunni governments in the region). Each acts as if campaigning for the job of power centre. Iranian officials now attack the Saudis with a vehemence they once reserved for Israel and the United States. Senior officials call Saudi Arabia a "takfiri" (heretical) Wahhabi regime that co-operates with Americans and Zionists. The magazine of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards calls for "a decisive and crushing response" to the Saudis.

In this atmosphere of shifting alliances, sectarian violence has grown. One result is that terrorists are using terror tactics against other terrorists. Iran, for all its strength, is often a target.

Consider the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), another statelet, a cousin of al-Qaeda that claims sovereignty over a chunk of territory in both those countries. This was the place where 21 would-be suicide bombers and their instructor recently were killed when the instructor accidentally used a live explosive in training.

In January, ISIS set off a bomb outside the Beirut headquarters of Hezbollah, killing four and wounding more than 70. The bulletin claiming responsibility boasted that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria penetrated the security system of the "Party of Satan [Hezbollah] in the heart [of] what is called the security zone."

That was one of five major suicide attacks against Hezbollah or Iranians in Lebanon during the last four months. The most recent was on Wednesday, when five people were killed at the Iranian cultural centre in Beirut. Reporters identified it as "a twin suicide attack." The perpetrators called it a "double martyrdom-seeking operation."

These were Sunni bombers, supporters of the rebels in Syria, killing themselves in order to punish Hezbollah and Iran for helping the Assad government. The Middle East, struggling to escape colonialism's legacy, still can't rid itself of ancient Islamic enmities.

Obama: Islamic Terrorists Driven by Western 'Injustice'

Until the threat of Islamist ideology is accurately pinpointed as the problem, American foreign policy will be flawed.

News Analysis by Ryan Mauro, The Clarion Project — February 4, 2014

President Obama’s State of the Union gave us a look at the premises driving his foreign policy. It showed that he believes Islamic terrorists to be driven by frustration over perceived injustices at the hands of the West, rather than an ideology. It is because of this belief that he can promote the nuclear deal with Iran and depict the regime as a less threatening version of the Soviet Union.

Three key lines in the speech illustrated the fundamentals underlying the Obama Administration’s foreign policy.

First, Obama indicated that he sees terrorism-sponsoring Islamist regimes as comparable to the communists of the Cold War. Both are primarily motivated by power and wealth and are open to mutually-beneficial deals. He said:

“If John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan could negotiate with the Soviet Union, then surely a strong and confident America can negotiate with less powerful adversaries today.”

This comparison overlooks the ideological differences between the two. If the Iranian regime had purely selfish interests, it would not engage in its self-injuring, radical behavior. The preamble to its constitution would not state that its founding objective is “the establishment of a universal holy government and the downfall of all others.”

Current Headlines in the Counter-Jihad Section

Some of these won't make it to the mainstream media, so here you go, a sobering collection of stories to check out:

Muslim Brotherhood Delegates Skipped Airport Inspections - Breitbart News

New Jersey: Muslim freed from pipe at water treatment plant, faces criminal charges - Jihad Watch, with background on recent jihad threats against American water supplies.

He "purposely climbed a six-foot fence with three or four layers of barbed wire on top."

Benghazi timeline: Obama missed intel briefing five days in a row before jihad attack - Jihad Watch, with graphic comparing timeline of events in Banghazi with Obama's schedule.

The Benghazi Transcripts: Top Defense officials briefed Obama on ‘attack,’ not video or protest - FoxNews

NSA collects millions of text messages daily; DOJ forbids agents from singling out Muslims in counterterror investigations - Jihad Watch

This surveillance scandal arises out of our national bipartisan unwillingness to face the reality of Islamic jihad. Because we all agree that Islam is a religion of peace, we can't possibly address where the threat is really coming from, and monitor mosques or subject Muslims with Islamic supremacist ties to greater surveillance. Instead, we have to pretend that anyone and everyone is a potential terrorist, and surveil everyone. Our freedoms and privacy are now at risk because of our refusal to admit the truth about Islam.

Palestinian Authority calls for Jihad on Jerusalem - The Blaze, with video

Pastor Saeed Abedini's Wife Forced to Fight Her Own Government for Her Husband’s Freedom

Go to the ACLJ website for the full story, with video, plus additional reports on Pastor Saeed Abedini's case, and info on how you can help.

by Jordan Sekulow, ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice) — 12/13/2013

Yesterday, I testified alongside Pastor Saeed Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh, about her husband’s worsening plight.

We laid out the facts about how he is being tortured in Iran.  But we also laid out the facts about how the Obama Administration has betrayed him, has abandoned him in Iran.

The Obama Administration and the U.S. State Department had a historic opportunity to demand Pastor Saeed’s release, along with that of all wrongly detained Americans in Iran, as a precondition to the nuclear  negotiations.

As Dr. Katrins Lantos Sweet, Vice Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, testified, this would have been an easy ask.

Yet, the Obama Administration intentionally chose not to even ask for his release as a precondition to  the  negotiations, leaving Pastor Saeed behind – malnourished, in increasing pain, and without medication.

Robert Spencer: Now the Twelfth Imam Can Come

A short lesson in Shia Islam eschatology, and how it may impact Middle East power dynamics.

JihadWatch — 11/26/2013

In FrontPage today I discuss the eschatological dimension of the capitulation to Iran:

Among the many who decried the Obama Administration’s catastrophic capitulation to the nuclear ambitions of the Islamic Republic of Iran, none spelled out its potential consequences as trenchantly as Israel’s Economy Minister Naftali Bennett: “We awoke this morning to a new reality,” he said Sunday. “A reality in which a bad deal was signed with Iran. A very bad deal. If a nuclear suitcase blows up five years from now in New York or Madrid, it will be because of the deal that was signed this morning.”

If that happens, it will also be because of the Shi’ite belief in the return of the Twelfth Imam. 

Iran victorious: "The Islamic nuclear republic"

A picture paints a thousand words:

Robert Spencer posted this over at Jihad Watch on Nov. 24th:

Iran is in full celebration mode over the West's capitulation to its nuclear program. Phillip Smyth says of the above image: "This was *just* posted on some Shi'a militia pages. 'The Islamic nuclear republic'"

Iran: White House Lying About Details of Nuke Deal

Iranian officials say White House fact sheet is ‘invalid’

by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon — 11/26/2013

Iranian officials say that the White House is misleading the public about the details of an interim nuclear agreement reached over the weekend in Geneva.

Iran and Western nations including the United States came to an agreement on the framework for an interim deal late Saturday night in Geneva. The deal has yet to be implemented.

The White House released a multi-page fact sheet containing details of the draft agreement shortly after the deal was announced.

However, Iranian foreign ministry official on Tuesday rejected the White House’s version of the deal as “invalid” and accused Washington of releasing a factually inaccurate primer that misleads the American public.

[Who would ever imagine the Obama administration might try to mislead the American public on any issue, let alone on something so important as national security?!]

“What has been released by the website of the White House as a fact sheet is a one-sided interpretation of the agreed text in Geneva and some of the explanations and words in the sheet contradict the text of the Joint Plan of Action, and this fact sheet has unfortunately been translated and released in the name of the Geneva agreement by certain media, which is not true,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham told the Iranian press on Tuesday.

Afkham and officials said that the White House has “modified” key details of the deal and released their own version of the agreement in the fact sheet.

Iran’s right to enrich uranium, the key component in a nuclear weapon, is fully recognized under the draft released by Tehran.

Obama Administration Leaves Christian Pastor Behind in Iran 'Deal'

by Katie Pavlich, Townhall.com — 11/25/2013

American Christian pastor Saeed Abedini has been sitting in a filthy Iranian prison for more than a year. He's been tortured and beaten for practicing his faith, but that wasn't enough for the Obama administration to bother negotiating his release as part of the deal reached with Iran over the weekend.

"It's devastating," the pastor's wife Naghmeh Abedini told Fox News Radio.  

She said her children were praying to have him home for the holidays. "It's unbearable," she said, "to think of another Christmas without him and see my kids not have him home for Christmas."  

After the nuclear deal announced over the weekend, Abedini said she doesn't see "any more leverage left."  

"Iran has no incentive for them to release him. I don't think we have any more leverage," she said. "We now have to consider other avenues and having other countries speak out because our country when we could have used our leverage chose to stay silent."

More background:

ACLJ, the legal organization representing Saeed Abedini and his wife, did not mince words in reaction to the non-negotiation with Iran.

On the night of November 23, 2013, the President of the United States left an American pastor, Saeed Abedini, behind. 

The "deal" with Iran announced tonight by President Obama, which allegedly halts "part" of Iran's nuclear program, allows Iran to enrich uranium and allows it to maintain a nuclear program in exchange for an easing of sanctions and humanitarian relief. 

It is outrageous that the Obama Administration commenced these negotiations and concluded them without the release of Pastor Saeed – a U.S. citizen. In fact, the Administration has just confirmed that he was not even part of the negotiations, stating that “The P5+1 talks focused exclusively on nuclear issues.” 

The Obama Administration did not volunteer this information; it was revealed only after a specific inquiry from Fox News. 

For more than a year, Pastor Saeed has undergone torture at the hands of his Iranian captors, most recently being transferred to one of the most deadly prisons in the world. Yet instead of demanding the release of this innocent U.S. citizen as a precondition to any negotiations with Iran, the Obama Administration is relaxing sanctions and providing humanitarian relief, while getting nothing but more meaningless promises in return. 

Humanitarian relief? 

Iran has been in a state of armed conflict against the U.S. since 1979. It has taken American hostages, killed Americans directly through terror attacks, and has been a principal supplier of arms to our jihadist enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

In other words, Iran has American blood on its hands. 

Iran has been our enemy since the jihadist takeover in 1979, and it remains our enemy. It holds an American pastor -- torturing him in horrific prison conditions -- merely because it hates his Christian faith. 

Pastor Saeed entered Iran with the permission of the Iranian government to help construct an orphanage, a mission to help the most vulnerable in Iranian society. Once there, he was arrested, tried without even being allowed to be present for his entire trial, convicted of nothing more than his Christian faith, and held in appalling conditions. 

And we're giving Iran humanitarian relief? 

It is difficult to comprehend the level of betrayal. We have made "deals" with tyrants before. One of former President Bill Clinton's gifts to the world was the 1994 "agreed framework" that provided U.S. aid in exchange for an alleged halt in North Korea's nuclear program. The result? North Korea is now not only a nuclear power but also a nuclear proliferator that has worked with Iran. 

We have left Pastor Saeed behind in the vain hope that we can trust Iran. 

It is a dark, cold night in America.

The Obama administration leaving Americans behind? Typical. The Obama administration refusing to stand up for persecuted Christians in the Muslim world? Also typical.

If you want to help, you can sign a petition here urging for Pastor Saeed's release.

Iran gives Christians 80 lashes for communion wine as UN blasts human rights record (UPDATED W/PHOTO)

A public lashing in Iran in 2005. (Photo: © Reuters)

by Benjamin Weinthal, FoxNews — 10/24/2013

Four Iranian Christians were reportedly sentenced to 80 lashes for drinking wine for communion, a shocking punishment meted out even as a new United Nations report blasted the Islamic republic for its systematic persecution of non-Muslims.

The four men were sentenced Oct. 6 after being arrested in a house church last December and charged with consuming alcohol in violation of the theocracy's strict laws, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide. They were among several Christians punished for their faith in a nation where converting from Islam to Christianity can bring the death penalty. According to a new October UN report by Ahmed Shaheed, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, such persecution is common, despite new President Hasan Rouhani's pledge to be a moderate. 

Iranian Regime Intensifies Crackdown on Christians

ICC (International Christian Concern) — 8/29/2013

Updated: August 29, 2013 — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, issued a statement urging the Iranian government to release Saeed Abedini, along with two other American citizens who are believe to be detained in Iran. Secretary Kerry expressed deep concern about the fate of Pastor Saeed and asked that President Rouhani would follow through on the vision he has shared in his speeches. Secretary Kerry concluded, "These men belong at home with those who love them and miss them."

8/28/2013 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – International Christian Concern (ICC) is alarmed by the latest series of events that continue a pattern of egregious violations of fundamental rights and freedoms in Iran. Three Christians, Ebrahim Firouzi, Sevada Aghasar, and Masoud Mirzaei were arrested on Wednesday, August 21, and detained without charges. On Sunday, August 25, an appeals court in Tehran rejected an appeal in the case of American Saeed Abedini who has been sentenced to eight years in prison because of his religious beliefs.

Graham: Why is Obama Silent While Iran Tortures American Pastor?

[Axios to Franklin Graham for speaking out like this. Orthodox Christians can follow this fine example of speaking truth to power. Public pressure on our elected officials on behalf of fellow Christians being persecuted by genocidal Muslim jihadists can influence U.S. policy and help the conditions of our brothers and sisters in Syria, Egypt and throughout the Islamic world.]

By Todd Starnes - FoxNews.com

One of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders wants to know why President Obama has remained silent as Iran tortures an American pastor held captive in one of the Islamic republic’s most notorious prisons.

Franklin Graham, the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, told Fox News the imprisonment and torture of Pastor Saeed Abedini is a blatant example of “religious intolerance.”

“Many in the international community are expressing outrage over this blatant example of religious intolerance,” Graham said. “I ask that our government do the same and demand that Pastor Saeed Abedini be released and allowed to return home to his wife and family in the United States.”

Graham said Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh, is terrified to hear reports of her husband’s physical condition.

“Naghmeh worries that she and her two young children may never see Saeed again,” he told Fox News.