Tensions between the United States and Iran are reaching a boiling point as nuclear talks stall and the Iranian regime continues a brutal crackdown on its own people. CBN News visited Armenia, where Iranian refugees are sharing their stories.

Anti-government protests have once again erupted at universities across Iran as students remember those killed in previous crackdowns. Human rights groups say more than 7,000 people have been killed — though the real number may be much higher, with some reporting 12,000 or even more.

The Trump administration has responded with the largest U.S. military presence in the region in decades.

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said, “The president asked me that this morning… I don’t want to use the word frustrated, because he understands he has plenty of alternatives. But he’s curious — curious as to why they haven’t… I don’t want to use the word capitulated, but why they haven’t capitulated.”

With Iran still restricting communication channels, the true scale of violence is difficult to confirm, although the death toll continues to rise.

Dr. Jacob Pursley, a missionary to Iranian expatriates, said, “The people going out on the streets are taking a great risk to their lives. So many things are happening in Iran that are very difficult to quantify. But what I mean is, these people are taking great risks — at least around 12,000 have been shot for protesting, and they’ve arrested over 10,000.”

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Protesting against the regime comes with severe consequences.

Iranian protester Ali Majd said, “We asked for freedom while protesting. And they started shooting people — shooting my friends, shooting my people. That is the reason I escaped, just to save my life. So many people did not have that chance like I did. They were murdered, and many more are in prisons waiting for execution.”

After 47 years of forced Islamic rule, a dramatic spiritual shift is underway inside Iran.

Dr. Pursley said, “Most Iranians today will not identify with Islam. They’ve completely rejected it and are being forced to live under Islamic law. They hate it. That’s why they’re saying, ‘We’re done.’ They’re not done with Iran — they’re done with Islam and with a terrorist Islamic state.”

Under Islamic Sharia law, converting to Christianity is punishable by death.

Majd added, “If you want to be a Christian, you first have to escape Iran. You cannot be a Christian in Iran.”

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Despite decades of propaganda, many Iranians harbor no hatred toward the West.

“We don’t hate the United States. We don’t hate the people of Israel. We don’t hate anybody,” Majd continued. “We just want to live peacefully with other nations. That is what Iranians really are — not what the IRGC tries to show to the world.”

With unarmed civilians facing drones and gunfire, many are pleading for President Trump to intervene.

Dr. Pursley said, “President Donald Trump has said and promised that he would act, and that’s what people are waiting for. I get messages regularly from people sending clips of Donald Trump saying, ‘When are you going to help us? You said you would. Our people are being killed. Please come and help now.'”

As nuclear talks continue in Geneva and U.S. forces surge into the region, 80 million Iranians are hoping for more than a diplomatic agreement — they want the regime that has brutalized them for nearly half a century to end.