US looking into reported detention of American-Iranian citizen in Iran

An American-Iranian journalist who once worked for a US-funded broadcaster is believed to have been detained in Iran, according to his former employer and multiple press freedom groups.

Reza Valizadeh was arrested in Tehran in September, a source close to his family told his former employer Radio Farda, the Iranian branch of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

Iran has not acknowledged detaining Valizadeh and the Iranian mission to the United Nations has declined to comment on his situation.

RFE/RL says it has had no official confirmation of the charges facing Valizadeh, who left Radio Farda in November 2022, but it is “profoundly concerned about the continued arrest, harassment and threats against media professionals by the Iranian regime.”

Reports of the journalist’s apparent detention come amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, whose Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday promised a “teeth-breaking” response to Israel and the United States after Israeli strikes targeted Iranian military sites late last month.

Pressured to return

In a post on his X account on February 20, 2024, Valizadeh suggested Iranian authorities had pressured his family to convince him to return to the country.

In a later post, on August 13, the journalist said he had arrived back in the Iranian capital on March 6, 2024.

“Before that, I had half-finished negotiations with the (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) Intelligence Organization. Finally, I returned to my country after 14 years, on my own responsibility and without a letter of amnesty, even verbally,” the post read.

RFE/RL said it was not clear under what circumstances Valizadeh had written the post.

Citing one of Valizadeh’s former colleagues, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fears of reprisal, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported in October that Valizadeh was being held without access to a lawyer in Iran’s Evin prison, which is notorious for housing critics of the Iranian regime.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which focuses on Iran, also believes Valizadeh is being held in Evin.

“Iranian authorities must immediately release journalist Reza Valizadeh and drop any charges levied against him,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim Middle East and North Africa program coordinator.

“I cannot say clearly enough to my fellow Americans what already appears on the Department of State’s website: ‘Do not travel to Iran, due to the risk of kidnapping and the arbitrary arrest and detention of US citizens.’ Simply put: Do not go to Iran,” the State Department spokesperson said.

Iran has a long history of using dual nationals as bargaining chips in its troubled relationship with the West. In 2023, it released five Americans designated by the US as wrongfully detained as part of a wider deal that included the US unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian funds.

It is currently marking the 25th anniversary of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, in which 52 US citizens were held captive for 444 days.