Whether it's the exploding coronavirus, mysterious fires at nuclear and military facilities or protests, Iran's ruling Islamic clerics are facing unprecedented challenges as the regime tries to maintain an iron grip on the nation.

In the latest military incident, Israel struck an Iranian-backed weapons facility and military positions in Syria today. The missile strike south of Damascus reportedly killed five Iranian fighters and injured a dozen others.

And on Monday, the government executed a man it convicted of spying for the CIA and Israeli intelligence.

Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd received that sentence for allegedly passing information to the CIA about the whereabouts of General Qasem Soleimani. The powerful leader was killed in a US drone strike earlier this year.

"This is a regime that's facing a possible rebellion in the near future, regime officials talk about it, so they are executing a lot of people to put fear into the public," Alireza Nader, an Iranian expert with Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told CBN News.

The execution follows a string of mysterious fires and explosions around the country.

On Sunday, fires broke out at a military installation near Tehran, a shipyard in Bushehr, and a key power plant connected to Iran's Natanz nuclear facility in Isfahan. Similar incidents have happened across Iran since June.

"This cannot be a coincidence," said Dr. Ronen Bergman, author of Rise and Kill First. "This cannot be just a series of accidents without malicious intent from someone."

Some pointing to Israel's ongoing overt, and at times covert war, against the Islamic regime.

"Israel is specifically trying to stop the transfer of very advanced, precise munitions to the regime's proxies, like Hezbollah, and also wants to slow down the Iranian nuclear program," said Nader.

And President Trump has reportedly given the CIA a green light to launch more offensive cyber-attacks to cripple or destroy some of Iran's critical infrastructures.

All this comes against the backdrop of ongoing government protests and a remarkable revival that's witnessing thousands of Muslims turning to Christianity in the midst of COVID-19.

"That's why we are calling this a pandemic of hope," said Mike Ansari, who runs Mohabat TV, one of the most popular Christian satellite channels in Iran.

Ansari told CBN News that Mohabat TV is recording 10 times more online salvations than this time last year.

"We are registering around 3,000 personal decisions by Iranian Muslims to leave Islam for Christianity during this revival," Ansari said.

That's 3,000 people each month who've decided to follow Jesus Christ since the pandemic began in March.

"People in Iran are just not happy the way their economy is going, the way the government is robbing them of their national resources and exporting Shia Islam to the neighboring countries, so they just don't trust their government," said Ansari.

The large number of people leaving Islam is causing a backlash against the church. Dozens of Christians have been arrested and imprisoned for responding to the Gospel message since March.

"During these critical times for the regime, there's a tendency, historically, for the regime to really crack down on religious communities like Christian converts, and we see that today," Nader told CBN News.

Iran is one of the world's most dangerous places for Christians. Yet, Christianity is growing faster in Iran than in any other country in the world. Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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