President Obama called on Iranian leaders Friday to release several U.S. prisoners they’ve been holding — in recognition of the spirit of family embodied in the Iranian celebration of its new year.
Iranians Friday are celebrating Nowruz, a celebration of the first day of Spring at the beginning of the Persian calendar year.
“It is a time for reuniting and rejoicing with loved ones and sharing hopes for the new year,” Obama said in a statement. “Today, as families across the world gather to mark this holiday, we remember those American families who are enduring painful separations from their loved ones who are imprisoned or went missing in Iran.”
Obama called on Tehran to release several U.S. dissidents, including Pastor Saeed Abedini, who has spent two and a half years detained in Iran on charges of threatening national security by speaking about his Christian faith; Amir Hekmati, has been imprisoned in Iran on espionage charges for over three and a half years; and Jason Rezaian, an Iranian government credentialed reporter for the Washington Post, has been held in Iran for nearly eight months on vague charges.
In addition, Obama lamented that Robert Levinson went missing on Kish Island more than eight years ago.
“At this time of renewal, compassion, and understanding, I reiterate my commitment to bringing our citizens home and call on the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately release Saeed Abedini, Amir Hekmati and Jason Rezaian and to work cooperatively with us to find Robert Levinson so that they all can be safely reunited with their families as soon as possible,” Obama said.
The timing of Obama’s statement is particularly sensitive, coming in the midst of intense final negotiations by the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany and other countries and Iran to roll back it’s nuclear deal. All sides face a March 24 deadline to wrap up the talks.
The latest round of talks ended Friday without an initial accord. The negotiations broke Friday so that the Iranian delegation can attend the funeral of President Hassan Rouhani’s mother and celebrate Nowruz.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Friday told reporters that the talks are still ongoing and declined to provide a detailed assessment about how close the two sides are to a deal.
“There was some progress that was made,” he said, noting that Secretary of State John Kerry plans to travel to Europe to meet with counterparts about the progress of the negotiations.
“The time has come to strike an agreement if one can be reached. That’s why we’ve seen the negotiators working hard on this,” he said.
By the end of the month, Earnest said U.S. officials anticipate a political agreement with “some very specific commitments from the Iranians about their nuclear program and how their facilities are run and serious commitments to agree to some historically intrusive inspections.”
If that political agreement is reached, U.S. officials still anticipate that it will take until the end of June to work out the technical specifics of the agreements.
“The U.S. is keenly interested in making sure that the technical details of this agreement live up to the political agreements,” he said.
