IRAN: Rafi Niya Synagogue completely destroyed by missile strike in Tehran
By Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers
HRWF (11.04.2026) -According to a video circulated by INRA Iranian news agency, the Rafi Niya Synagogue in central Tehran was completely destroyed (See Video on CNN website) on Tuesday 7 April in a missile strike attributed by Iranian media to the US-Israeli shelling campaign. This was confirmed afterwards to The Jerusalem Post by independent sources.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) later recognized the fact and regretted the “collateral damage” of a strike that was aimed to target a senior Iranian commander living nearby. (The Times of Israel. See photos and videos)
One of Iran’s Jewish representatives condemned the attack and said Torah scrolls remained buried under the rubble.
Videos released by Iranian state-linked media appeared to show Jewish prayer books, debris, and damage inside the building after the strike.
Iranian and pro-government sources quickly claimed that Israel’s reported strike targeted Iran’s Jewish minority. Iranian officials continue to describe the conflict as a fight between the Islamic Republic and the “Zionist regime,” not against the Jews in general.
Human rights incidents targeting the Jewish community in Iran
In its last World Country Religious Freedom Report (21 October 2025), Aid to the Church in Need highlighted three incidents in 2024 in its section on Iran.
In April 2024, Molotov cocktails were thrown at the ancient mausoleum of Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan, a major archaeological site that is important in both Jewish and Christian traditions. It is the burial place of the Jewish wife of the Persian King Xerxes. The city’s governor claimed that the authorities had identified the people involved in the incident thanks to surveillance video, but who exactly instigated the attack was still a mystery. (European Jewish Congress)
In July 2024, Iranian authorities put strong pressure on Iranian Jews to vote in the country’s presidential election; to this end, they set up for the first time special voting stations for Jews and held unprecedented campaign events for the Jewish community with representatives of the candidates running for office. (VOA)
In November 2024, a 20-year-old Jewish man, Arvin Ghahremani, was executed. He had been sentenced to death for killing a Muslim man, while acting in self-defence. According to the USCIRF, his trial was not fair, and he was refused the option of paying blood money (diya) because he was a Jew. “Arvin Ghahremani’s execution is an egregious violation of religious freedom demonstrating the precarious status of Jews in Iran despite their official recognition as a community,” reads the USCIRF statement reporting the case.(USCIRF)
The Jewish community in short in Iran
Jews settled in Persia after the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE). In the Islamic era, they lived under the so-called protected minority status (dhimmi), with restrictions. In the 19th – early 20th century, they lived in many cities of Iran, often in segregated quarters. Their situation improved under Pahlavi rule (1925-1979) and there were then dozens of synagogues. But in the aftermath of the Iranian Islamic Revolution, tens of thousands Jews left the country. Despite their massive emigration, their community managed to survive. Now, there are about 25 active synagogues, 10-15 of them in Tehran.
Judaism is one of Iran’s legally recognized minority religions, and the country has a small Jewish community, though many Jews left after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Tehran has long sought to present itself as a protector of its remaining Jewish community while simultaneously maintaining fierce anti-Israel rhetoric. Iran’s Jewish population, now only a fraction of its pre-1979 size, remains the largest in the Middle East outside Israel and, under the constraints of the Islamic Republic, is often publicly critical of Israeli policy.
The Rafi-Niya Synagogue was built in 1958, during the Pahlavi era, by Abdolrahman Rafi‘nia, a member of the Mashhadi (Khorasani) Jewish community, who gave his name to the place of worship. But it is also known as the “Mashhadi Synagogue” or as the “Khorasani Synagogue of Tehran” reflecting its community roots. It served Jews who had migrated from Mashhad and Kerman to Tehran.
Photo: Rafi Niya Synagogue in Iran in rubble (Screenshot)
