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The Mandaeans of Iran

The Mandaeans of Iran, numbering approximately 11,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ancient ethnoreligious group whose religion, Mandaeism, is considered one of the last surviving Gnostic faiths. They mostly adhere to Mandaeism and Iranian Persian is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Mandaean

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: Iran
People Cluster: Assyrian
Primary Language(s): Iranian Persian (pes)
Primary Religion(s): Mandaeism
Population: 11,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024188
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Pray for the Mandaeans of Iran

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Mandaeism
Religious Affiliation: Other

100%
%
Mandaeism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Iranian Persian
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Persian, Iranian Speakers

Media Resources in Iranian Persian:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Iranian Persian:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
New Millenium Version 2009✓
New Millenium Version 2014✓✓
Today's Persian Version✓✓

3 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Iranian Persian bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Mandaeans:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Mandaeans of Iran

For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?
readPsalm 18:31

As people look to their own efforts for hope, pray they will have the opportunity to learn and believe in the Lord, who is the only Rock worthy of their faith.

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.
readActs 13:48-49

Pray that the gospel will spread throughout this whole region and that many will believe and embrace the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.
readPsalm 23:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember that the Lord is their shepherd, providing for their every need.

And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.
readLuke 10:6

Pray that, as people come to faith in Christ and want to share it with others, they will be welcomed into homes and received well so that they can share message of hope with many people.

Mandaean Across Countries (ROP3 - 106221) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MandaeansPG024188MandaeansIran11,500Unengaged and UnreachedIranian PersianMandaeism
MandaeansPG046405MandaeansIraq36,000Unengaged and UnreachedMesopotamian ArabicEthnoreligion
MandaeansPG050357MandaeansUnited States1,100Unengaged and UnreachedIranian PersianEthnoreligion

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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