Three Iranians who converted to Christianity were sentenced to jail terms last month. In summoning them to begin their sentences, the Iranian authorities accused the converts of “spreading Zionist Christianity,” which the mullahs see as a threat to national security.

They will serve terms of two-to-five years each, unless they can come up with exorbitant bail payments in the range of $30,000, reported Article 18, a London-based non-profit organization advocating for the safety of Christians in Iran.

This is not the first time Iran has conflated Christianity with Zionism, nor is it necessarily wrong.

The Iranian authorities are almost certainly using the label “Zionist” in order to crack down on rising Muslim conversion to Christianity by putting it within the scope of the regional geo-political conflict.

But in so doing, the Islamists who rule Iran are unwittingly refuting the Church doctrine of Replacement Theology by branding Christians as automatic supporters of the prophesied Jewish national movement by simple virtue of their faith in Jesus.