The Obama administration spent Tuesday defending its nuclear deal with Tehran from harsh criticism, but still had to admit that the final agreement does nothing at all for the handful of Americans still being held in Iran.
Even after making concessions that will likely face continued criticism from Republicans over the next few weeks, Secretary of State John Kerry said the only option for the federal government is to ask Iran, again, to release the detainees.
“And certainly, we continue to call on Iran to immediately release the detained U.S. citizens,” Kerry said Tuesday in a brief aside from explaining the agreement. “These Americans have remained in our thoughts throughout this negotiation, and we will continue to work for their safe and their swift return. And we urge Iran to bring our missing Americans home as well.”
The absence of any progress on the imprisoned Americans means the future of Washington Post Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian and three other Americans becomes ever more uncertain.
Rezaian, who holds dual American-Iranian citizenship, was arrested in Iran one year ago and ultimately charged with espionage.
“It is important to remember that Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent, remains in an Iranian prison despite the international accord announced Tuesday on Iran’s nuclear program,” Post executive editor Martin Baron told the Washington Examiner’s media desk after being asked what steps the Post may take next. “His unjust detention on espionage and other charges trumped up by the Iranian authorities has now lasted nearly a full year.”
“We call again on Iran to deliver a fair and impartial judgment in Jason’s case, one that could only result in his acquittal and immediate release. We hope that with the deal now in place the Iranian courts will move swiftly to conclude this process and allow Jason to return to his family,” his statement added.
This is all that the Post can say on the matter at this time, a spokeswoman told the Examiner.
Rezaian’s family, which has been barred from attending his hearings at Iran’s Revolutionary Court in Tehran, told reporters Monday that his detainment has weighed heavily on them.
“Jason has done nothing wrong,” said Mary Rezaian, the journalist’s mother, according to ABC News. “This type of detention is hurting him, it’s hurting his family, we want him on bail released with his family.”
Christian pastor Saeed Abedini and retired U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati have also languished in Iranian prison. Former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran years ago, is also believed to be in captivity.
They haven’t been completely forgotten back in Washington, D.C., as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, used the occasion of the Iran deal to call attention to their predicament.
“Today, the international community led by the United States has agreed to not only legitimize and perpetuate the Iranian nuclear program, but also to further arm and enrich the brutal theocratic regime that has oppressed the Iranian people for more than thirty years — a regime that is wrongfully holding United States citizens captive, that is sponsoring radical Islamic terrorism across the globe, and that regularly promotes the destruction of both Israel and America throughout its streets,” the 2016 Republican presidential candidate said in a statement.
“Despite these facts, it seems President Obama would concede almost anything to get any deal — even a terrible deal — from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei,” he added.
