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Iranian officials recently seized the property of St. Peter Evangelical Church in Tehran, halting Christian worship services that had been held there for over 150 years. Authorities claimed the site was owned by foreign entities, even though foreign mission workers transferred ownership to Iranian Christians long ago, nonprofit Voice of the Martyrs told WORLD in a Tuesday email.

Until its closure, the church had held services in Iran’s official language of Farsi, also known as Persian, the language understood by all its congregants. Christian services in Farsi are typically banned in Iran. But St. Peter Church was permitted to do so because its members were from Assyrian and Armenian ethnic minorities recognized by the government, according to Voice of the Martyrs vice president Todd Nettleton.

When Iranian authorities seized the church, they also evicted 20 Assyrian and Armenian families who lived inside the 10-acre compound, according to the United Nations. The families were reportedly given about two weeks to leave their homes, even though many of them had little income, according to the UN. Authorities threatened to arrest the church leaders if they failed to comply. The compound also included a school and the office of the Bible Society. The closure of St. Peter Church leaves Iran with no operating Protestant churches that offer services in Farsi, according to the UN. United Nations experts contacted the Iranian government to ask that it return the property to the Christian congregation.

Has persecution in Iran increased recently? Iranian officials have ramped up threats against local Christians on national security grounds since the U.S.-Iran war began. Christians are frequently considered allies of America and Israel, Nettleton said.

The UN was aware of at least 79 Christians, most of them converts from other religions, who were detained or imprisoned. Some have been tortured, according to the UN’s experts.

Dig deeper: Read my report on Iran’s recent bans of several Christian broadcasters.