An Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a US government-funded broadcaster is believed to have been detained by Iran for months, authorities said yesterday, further raising the stakes as Tehran threatens to retaliate over an Israeli attack on the country.
The US Department of State’s acknowledgment of the imprisonment of Reza Valizadeh came as Iran yesterday marked the 45th anniversary of the US embassy takeover and hostage crisis.
It also followed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatening Israel and the US the day before with “a crushing response” as long-range B-52 bombers reached the Middle East in an attempt to deter Tehran.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Valizadeh had worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that is overseen by the US Agency for Global Media. In February, he wrote on social media that his family members had been detained in an effort to have him return to Iran.
In August, Valizadeh apparently posted two messages suggesting he had returned to Iran, despite Tehran viewing Radio Farda as a hostile outlet.
“I arrived in Tehran on March 6, 2024. Before that, I had unfinished negotiations with the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp’s] intelligence department,” the message read in part. “Eventually I came back to my country after 13 years without any security guarantee, even a verbal one.”
Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Valizadeh had been detained.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which monitors cases in Iran, said that he had been detained on arrival to the country earlier this year, but later released.
He was then rearrested and sent to Evin Prison, where he faces a case in the Islamic Revolutionary Court, which routinely holds closed-door hearings in which defendants face secret evidence, the agency reported.
“We are working with our Swiss partners who serve as the protecting power for the United States in Iran to gather more information about this case,” the US State Department said. “Iran routinely imprisons US citizens and other countries’ citizens unjustly for political purposes. This practice is cruel and contrary to international law.”
Meanwhile, outside the former US embassy in Tehran, which is now a museum known as the “Den of Spies,” demonstrators chanted “death to Israel, death to America,” while others burnt Israeli and US flags to mark the anniversary of the 1979 hostage crisis.
Regional tensions have soared since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October last year, triggered by the Palestinian Hamas militant group’s unprecedented attack on Israel.
Israel, an ally of the US and long-standing foe of Iran, has since engaged in a deadly conflict with Iran-backed groups including Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Additional reporting by AFP
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats