Trump's Hammer Falls: US Prepares Sanctions to End Nigeria's Christian Bloodbath
The United States is preparing targeted sanctions and further action to protect Christians in Nigeria following military strikes on Christmas Day 2025, according to US lawmakers and religious freedom advocates. Representative Riley Moore, Republican from West Virginia, announced he will present a report to President Donald Trump in January outlining 30 concrete ways the United States can partner with Nigeria to end Christian persecution under Nigeria's designation as a Country of Particular Concern.
Trump designated Nigeria a CPC in October 2025 under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, which requires the State Department to identify nations engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. The designation authorizes a range of penalties from diplomatic measures to economic sanctions.
Trump had previously threatened military action, posting on social media that if the Nigerian government fails to stop the killing of Christians
"the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, guns a blazing, to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities."
Moore visited Nigeria and met with women who watched their children and loved ones brutally murdered in front of them. His office stated the congressman experienced "unimaginable suffering" during meetings with survivors. Moore described talks with Nigerian leaders as "productive" and said the United States is close to establishing a strategic security framework to confront ISIS and Boko Haram in the northeast and stop targeted violence against Christians in the Middle Belt by Muslim Fulani radicals.
The Christmas Day strikes against ISIS were conducted in coordination with the Nigerian government, and Moore stated they "have given hope to the Christians in Nigeria." US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed he was grateful for Nigerian government support and cooperation in the counterterrorism effort.
Moore emphasized that President Trump is not trying to bring war to Nigeria but bringing peace and security to thousands of Christians facing horrific violence and death.
Nina Shea, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, expects the CPC designation outcome in 2026 to include the return of Middle Belt Christians to their homelands with ongoing protection from an effective security force. She anticipates US assistance for Nigerian border security to stop the influx of Islamist terrorists and weapons from the Sahel, and visa sanctions against Nigerian officials complicit in atrocities linked to religious freedom violations. Shea stated, "The stakes for Christians are very high."
Sean Nelson, senior counsel for global religious freedom with Alliance Defending Freedom International, expressed cautious optimism about the CPC designation. "This is really the most I've ever seen in terms of DC action in order to really try to resolve and fix what is one of the worst persecutor situations in the world," Nelson said. ADF plans to challenge Nigeria's blasphemy laws at the Nigerian Supreme Court, which currently allow punishment by death.
Franklin Graham publicly thanked President Trump for the designation, stating it is incomprehensible that approximately 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria in the last 15 years, murdered and butchered by Islamic extremists.
Joel Veldkamp of Christian Solidarity International noted that more Christians are killed in Nigeria for their faith every year than in the rest of the world combined. Nigeria was previously designated a CPC during Trump's first term but was removed from the list by the Biden administration in November 2021.
THE CRUSADER'S OPINION
Finally. After decades of Western inaction while Nigerian Christians were massacred by the tens of thousands, an American president willing to speak plainly and act decisively. Fifty thousand Christians murdered in 15 years. Read that again. Fifty thousand of our brothers and sisters slaughtered while the international community offered thoughts, prayers, and precisely zero consequences for the killers or the government that enabled them.
The Biden administration removed Nigeria from the persecution watchlist despite overwhelming evidence of genocide. Why? Because acknowledging Islamic terrorism against Christians complicates progressive narratives about religious tolerance and offends diplomatic sensibilities. Meanwhile, churches burned, women were raped, children were beheaded, and entire Christian communities were erased from ancestral lands. But heaven forbid we upset anyone by calling evil what it is.
Trump's approach terrifies the establishment precisely because it works. Designate Nigeria a CPC. Threaten sanctions. Coordinate military strikes against ISIS on Christmas Day. Suddenly, Nigerian leaders who ignored Christian suffering for years are "productive" partners establishing "strategic security frameworks." Imagine that. When America actually uses its power to defend the persecuted instead of endlessly "engaging in dialogue," things change.
The same voices that condemned Trump's "guns a blazing" rhetoric as inflammatory are silent about the guns that killed 50,000 Nigerian Christians. They'll lecture about respecting sovereignty while Christians are fed into the wood chipper of Islamist violence. True Christian leadership demands we protect the defenseless, even when it's politically inconvenient. Especially when it's politically inconvenient. Nigeria now knows America is watching. Let's pray Trump follows through with every sanction, every consequence, every measure necessary until this slaughter ends.
TAKE ACTION
Support Shepherds Shield: www.TheShepherdsShield.org
Support Congressman Riley Moore's Efforts: Contact your Representative and Senator demanding they support Moore's Nigeria report and recommendations to President Trump Find your officials: https://www.house.gov and https://www.senate.gov
Alliance Defending Freedom International: Website: https://adfinternational.org Email: info@adfinternational.org Support ADF's challenge to Nigeria's death penalty blasphemy laws at the Nigerian Supreme Court
Christian Solidarity International: Website: https://csi-usa.org Email: csi@csi-usa.org Phone: +1 800 323 2284 Donate to direct aid for Nigerian Christians and advocacy efforts
Hudson Institute Religious Freedom Project: Website: https://www.hudson.org Contact Nina Shea's team advocating for Middle Belt Christian protection and border security assistance
Samaritan's Purse Nigeria Relief: Website: https://www.samaritanspurse.org Phone: +1 828 262 1980 Franklin Graham's organization providing emergency aid to persecuted Nigerian Christians
Contact the White House: Website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact Urge President Trump to implement all 30 recommended actions from Moore's report and maintain maximum pressure until Christian persecution ends
