In all of this mayhem, religious minorities have been the most vulnerable. The Christian communities, being the largest of these, exhibit the scars of a campaign against them matched only by the violence in Syria. Their churches have been attacked and destroyed, congregations bombed and machine-gunned while at worship, clergy kidnapped and murdered and now expelled by ISIS from their ancient homelands. If any or all of this had happened to any other ethno-religious community, there would have been an international outcry long ago. Western-based human rights organisations would have been organising relief and campaigning for international action to protect these communities and their very survival. All credit to the Kurds and to a number of European countries that are accepting refugees, but this is precisely what the extremists intended: to drive these people from land needed for a caliphate centred on Iraq. What is required, rather, is a concerted international effort to secure the future of these and other communities in Iraq. The terrible plight of the Yazidis, who were trapped in the mountains, shows us that those not deemed to be Ahl al-Kitab, or people of the book, are especially vulnerable to genocide. Their future needs securing and should be part of the comprehensive agreement between Shia and Sunni needed to hold Iraq together. 

Relief supplies, while meeting the most urgent requirements,are simply not enough. Nor even is arming the Kurds, necessary though that might be. What is also needed is a UN-sponsored and implemented arrangement, with an international and independent force to back it up,to provide safe havens for Christians, Yazidis, Mandaeans and other minorities. This time it is not "no-fly" zones but "no-go" zones for extremists that are needed. Such arrangements should be an aspect of any power-sharing agreement between the Sunni and the Shia and should go hand in hand with a negotiated end to the civil war in Syria, without preconditions such as Assad's departure.

Iran has a crucial role in securing such an agreement, but it has its own internal problems. Its treatment of its own citizens, especially of minorities, hardly gives room for any confidence that it can mentor a situation of greater tolerance in Iraq. President Rouhani was elected by Iranians who wanted greater freedom, as the most suitable candidate of those the mullahs allowed to stand. On election, he stated his commitment to human rights and freed a few political and religious prisoners. The hope was that more, much more, would follow. After years of repression, following the brief "spring" under President Khatami, it seemed that we were on the threshold of another "spring".

These hopes have not been fulfilled. Activists such as Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel laureate, remain deeply worried about the situation and there has, recently, been a marked rise in the arrest of dissidents, members of religious groups and public executions. The hardliners are giving a credible impression that they are in charge after all. Although all Christian churches are closely monitored, with informers outside even the Armenian Cathedral in Tehran, it is the Farsi-speaking Christians of the Anglican and evangelical churches who have been singled out for attention. They are told who can attend services and when they can be held, if at all. Their clergy are forbidden to visit parishioners in their homes and are sometimes accused of trying to convert Muslims. The so-called "house churches" are even worse off. The ideologues of the Islamic Revolution regard these small groups of Christians as one of the great dangers to the Islamic state and have done everything they can to eliminate them. More than 30 Christian leaders are behind bars, mostly for the crime of holding a Christian meeting in a home or giving someone a Bible to read.

Among them is Farshid Fathi, who has been sentenced to six years in jail and held in solitary confinement for long periods. Last Easter his foot was fractured when a guard stepped on it. So far, he has been denied the treatment doctors say he needs for its proper healing. He remains an inspiration to his fellow prisoners. Other prisoners include Maryam Zargaran, who is serving four years. Youth groups have been forcibly broken up and women and men are regularly detained as a "warning". Apart from the tightly-controlled situation in four Anglican congregations, all public Christian worship in Farsi is simply forbidden.

The Zoroastrians, followers of the indigenous faith of Iran, are a shadow of their former selves (there are now more of them in India and Pakistan than in Iran) and the ancient Jewish community is a fraction of what it was before the revolution. Non-Shia Muslims also face discrimination, with restrictions on building mosques and other activities.

The plight of the Bahá'í community is, by all independent accounts, even worse than that of the Zoroastrians, the Jews or the Christians. More than 200 Bahá'ís were executed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Today, more than 120 Bahá'ís are in prison on trumped-up charges — including seven former leaders of the community serving 20-year prison sentences. Their children are often harassed at school, their young people usually barred from university, and adults denied business licences and jobs. Not even their dead are sacrosanct. The ongoing desecration of an historically important cemetery in Shiraz where 950 Bahá'í are buried has caused moral outrage all over the world. The Bahá'í question reveals some of Iran's internal tensions. News from the country suggests that public opinion may not be entirely in line with the regime's negative views about the Bahá'ís. A prominent Ayatollah has received praise from around the world in recent weeks for giving the Bahá'í community a work of calligraphy featuring its own sacred writings. Numerous other public figures have made their own gestures in support of the rights of this community but the hardliners remain adamant and firmly in control.

It is sometimes said that the persecution of religious minorities in Iran reflects the struggle between hardliners and progressives within the regime. Radical Islamists recently attempted to censor the president's own speech about freedom of expression on the internet after some young people had been severely admonished for making a widely-circulated tribute film to Pharrell Williams's song "Happy". It is clear that some people don't like the president. This may be so but Rouhani was elected with the blessing of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and must be allowed to fulfil the pledges that brought him to office. Iranian leaders cannot continually plead that they have no power over other parts of the state. If Iran is to rejoin the civilised nations of the world, all parts of government need to act together.

For the West, the question is whether a regime which does not treat its own people with respect and represses their fundamental freedoms, can be trusted to deliver on the nuclear issue. If the West wants enduring good relations with Iran, it must pursue the cause of freedom for all the people of Iran with as much rigour as the matter of its own safety, and that of Israel, in seeking to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions. A signal that good international relations and domestic respect for freedom are inextricably linked is badly needed. Will the West give such a signal? Among other things, clear support for even the small steps Rouhani is taking would be very welcome and show the hardliners that he is not alone in his desire for more freedom for the Iranian people.