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Even At War, Iran Targets Religious Minority

The country’s Baha'i minority among those under pressure amid wartime crackdown

Friday, April 3, 2026, Istanbul

While Iran is combatting US and Israeli forces in the skies and seas, it continues a crackdown on dissidents, many of whom have been jailed or summoned for questioning.

But one particular target of its ire is baffling. Iran’s Baha’i minority has never been a component of the Iranian regime and in fact takes a quetist approach politics.

Baha’i community spokeswoman Padideh Sabeti joins me for a detailed update about what is happening to her co-religionists in Iran, where they have faced “cradle-to-grave” discrimination.

(Photo: Baha’i temple in Wilmette, Illinois)

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