USA TODAY International Edition
Americans stuck in Iran overshadow nuclear agreement
Team petitions for freedom of ‘ Post’ writer accused of spying
WASHINGTON Renewed focus on four Americans detained in Iran looms as a potential impediment to congressional approval of an international agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program.
Wednesday marked the first anniversary of the arrest of Washington Post Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian, who was charged with espionage. Rezaian’s plight was detailed at a news conference a day before the Senate holds its first hearing on the deal, which is subject to a 60- day review by Congress. It will lift sanctions costing Iran hundreds of billions of dollars in return for limits on its nuclear program and access for international inspectors to verify Iran does not try to develop a weapon.
Many members of Congress have expressed reservations about the agreement, citing Iranian actions hostile to U. S. interests. The detention of the Americans, whose fates remain uncertain, adds to those concerns.
Rezaian’s lawyers, brother and Post Executive Editor Martin Baron called for his immediate release. They unveiled a formal petition on his behalf submitted to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions. “If Iran is serious about its international obligations, then this is the perfect opportunity to show the world how seriously it takes those obligations,” attorney David Bowker said.
Other American detainees are former U. S. Marine Amir Hekmati and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini. All three are Iranian Americans whom Iran treats as its own citizens. Iranian media reported that a fourth detainee, former FBI agent Robert Levinson, was in the custody of Iranian security services shortly after he went missing more than eight years ago.
The U. S. government alleges that the three Americans of Iranian descent are held without cause by Iran’s hard- line Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which controls Iran’s nuclear sites and expressed misgivings about the negotiations.
President Obama said U. S. diplomats are working to gain the release of the detainees, but negotiations on the nuclear agreement were limited to one priority: ensuring Iran doesn’t obtain a nuclear weapon.
Baron said administration officials never promised Rezaian’s release would be part of the deal, but his case was discussed.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in Tehran on Wednesday that “imprisoned citizens” were discussed for humanitarian reasons during the talks, but he did not elaborate, according to the Associated Press.
Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the Committee on Foreign Relations, said the detainees should be raised “at every point,” though he agreed with the administration’s approach at the talks.