Following a renewed push from the Trump administration to cut all global economic lifelines to Iran, Tehran’s attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz have lessened, and the Islamist regime’s leaders appear more willing to negotiate. But the impact of the economic sanctions on the Iranian people has been severe, and the country’s Christian population continues to suffer extreme persecution.

Last week, the Trump administration launched “Operation Economic Outcast,” a “whole-of-government, economic campaign” designed to “sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone.” The Treasury Department’s announcement noted that the agency has “mapped the networks, facilitators, and financial channels that Iran uses to smuggle oil, evade sanctions, and fund terror. Working with our partners across the U.S. government, Treasury will be uncompromising in targeting any source of the regime’s illicit revenue.”

After a months-long stalemate between the U.S. and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, reports are now suggesting that the sanctions seem to be having an effect. U.S. officials said last week that only 2% of ships that crossed the strait were attacked, and a report noted that over “200 mine-like objects have been swept from the main lane of the strait.” As a result, “traffic through the strait ballooned in August, with roughly 9-10 million barrels of oil flowing through it.”

The sanctions also appear to be weakening Tehran’s resolve to continue fighting. Sources told Axios last week that “Iran has shown renewed interest in negotiations” as domestic unrest has once again begun to surface during a widening economic crisis. Iranian citizens are resorting to “hoarding gasoline,” supermarkets are running out of critical staples such as rice and cooking oil, and runaway inflation is forcing many to buy meat “on credit, repaid in installments with interest.” In addition, medical services are “breaking down,” and the regime appears to be “appropriating the savings from individual bank depositors” to stay afloat.

Meanwhile, the Islamist regime appears to be stepping up its persecution of the Christian population within the country. Iran Alive Ministries, an organization that works to spread the gospel to the people of Iran through satellite broadcasts and working with underground house churches, has estimated that the regime has killed at least 33 Christian ministers affiliated with Iran Alive and detained over 130 believers with ties to house churches in recent months. Still, thousands are continuing to convert to Christianity, with Iran Alive documenting 5,849 conversions so far this year.

Nevertheless, Dr. Hormoz Shariat, who serves as president of the ministry, says that everyday life for the people of Iran is extremely trying.

“People cannot afford the basics,” he observed during “Washington Watch” Monday. “I’ve heard from so many people, ‘I haven’t eaten meat for the last three months. I can’t even afford to buy eggs.’ So there is a hardship on the people of Iran. And worst of all, they have lost the hope they had — hope that maybe Trump’s attacks will bring down the Iranian government, and it hasn’t. And they were hoping that the prince [the exiled Reza Pahlavi] will unite everybody and bring down the government, which hasn’t happened. So people are very desperate, physically under pressure, but mentally they have lost hope.”

But Shariat went on to insist that the Iranian people are still converting. “Through our satellite broadcasts and internet, if it’s on, we are giving the people of Iran, especially Christians, a real hope because … Trump is not their hope and Prince [Reza Pahlavi] is not their hope. So they’re very hopeless. But the real hope is Jesus Christ.”

He continued, “At this dark moment, we are telling them [that] God in Jeremiah 49:38 has promised that it will prosper Iran, but it’s going to get worse before it gets better. So the only hope is Jesus Christ. That’s why we see even more people are coming to Christ these days than ever before. … They are seeing this brutality of [the] Islamic government killing 40 to 50,000 in two days in January. So the more the government does this, the more people are convinced that Islam is not the way. They’re looking around and, of course, Jesus is very attractive. The message of peace, joy, forgiveness, love, and kindness. This is very attractive to the people of Iran right now.”

Shariat further shared that even though the Iranian government recently blacklisted Iran Alive’s satellite channel, he sees hope through the continued conversions that are occurring. “I always look at the bright side of things, because the more we get support, the more impactful Iran Alive is, and the more impactful we are, the more the government of Iran is alarmed and feels threatened. And the more they’re threatened, the more persecutions, more arrests, more executions, more torture. So I ask our friends … please pray for the persecuted.”