In the nineteenth century, the numbers of the “despised” Jews in Iran had declined substantially compared to the increasing population of Muslims. Aside from such factors as insecurity, political unrest, epidemics, poor sanitary conditions, earthquakes, and occasional famine, the decline in Jewish population in Iran can also be attributed to the distress felt by the Jews that precipitated their conversion or emigration. Accusations of blood libels, conversion, persecution, and mistreatment during the early Qajar period were among the afflictions that the Iranian Jews had to deal with. This chapter, which examines the plight of Jews and other religious minorities in Iran under Nasir al-Din Shah (early period, 1848–1866), looks at how Mashhad Jews were forced to embrace Islam in 1839, along with misgovernment in Mashhad and Herat.