Advocates for at the very least 4 American nationals who had been jailed in Iran earlier than the U.S.-Israeli strikes began are rising more and more involved about their security, as intense bombing continues throughout the nation.
Two of these U.S. nationals have been named publicly: 49-year-old Journalist Abdolreza “Reza” Valizadeh, whom the U.S. State Division formally designated as “wrongfully detained” by Iran in Might 2025, and 61-year-old Kamran Hekmati, who was arrested in July 2025 whereas visiting household in Iran.
Each had been being held in Tehran’s infamous Evin Jail earlier than the struggle began. There was no confirmed info on their whereabouts or situation since then.
Nonprofit teams say they’re monitoring at the very least two different U.S. nationals believed to be detained in Iran, whose identities CBS Information can not verify.
“Evin Jail, we all know, has been a navy goal by the Israeli authorities earlier than prior to now. Through the 12-day struggle [between Israel and Iran in June 2025], it was really bombed. So we’ve this danger of Evin Jail being hit in some type of kinetic navy strike,” mentioned Kieran Ramsey, a retired FBI assistant director and chief investigative officer on the World Attain group, which works to carry dwelling People wrongfully held overseas.
“Then we’ve the danger of reprisals by different prisoners and by guards on the jail, as a result of Kamran is American. He is additionally Jewish. So our issues proceed to escalate as day by day goes by,” Ramsey instructed CBS Information.
“The IDF, the Israeli Protection Power, had put the neighborhood of Evin Jail on discover that residents ought to depart to keep away from air assault. So, clearly prisoners inside Evin do not have that very same luxurious,” Ryan Fayhee, a lawyer representing Valizadeh and a associate on the legislation agency Akin Gump, instructed CBS Information. “It’s very black for us. We aren’t capable of talk with Reza or his household in Tehran. And so it have to be simply, actually, he have to be feeling very helpless proper now.”
CBS Information spoke to Joe Bennett, the son of British prisoners Lindsay and Craig Foreman, who had been additionally being held at Evin Jail. Bennett is ready to have every day telephone calls along with his mom, who, earlier this week, reported explosions so near the jail that home windows had been blown out. As of Friday, she remained on the jail and capable of make her every day calls.
Who’re Reza Valizadeh and Kamran Hekmati?
Valizadeh grew to become a U.S. citizen in 2022 after working for the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Radio Farda, the Persian department of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
He believed he had acquired assurances that it was protected for him to return to Iran, the place most of his household lives, however days after arriving in Tehran in 2024 for a go to, he was detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and brought to Evin Jail.
Valizadeh Household by way of AP
He spent weeks beneath intense interrogation and in isolation, and Iranian officers didn’t publicly acknowledge his arrest for nearly two months. In December 2024, Valizadeh was sentenced to 10 years in jail after being charged with “collaborating with a hostile authorities,” based on a petition filed in January by his legal professional with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
Since then, his household says Valizadeh, who has bronchial asthma, has suffered from coughing suits and been denied drugs.
“As any person who’s represented People wrongfully detained prior to now, this can be a very, extremely uncommon state of affairs the place our skill to advocate for Reza clearly is muted proper now with the navy strikes,” Fayhee instructed CBS Information. “It is tough to think about what a lawyer can do for Reza, aside from to ask the U.S. and the Israelis to train excessive warning within the space round Evin Jail. And Reza isn’t the one American citizen inside the partitions of Evin.”
Hekmati, who lives in Lengthy Island and runs a jewellery enterprise in New York Metropolis, immigrated to the U.S. from Iran after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, his advocates from the nonprofit World Attain, which works to safe the discharge of People wrongfully held overseas, say.
He had traveled to Iran various occasions due to an pressing household matter, however was prevented from leaving in Might final yr and ultimately arrested in July. He was then charged beneath a legislation that prohibits Iranian residents from visiting Israel inside a decade of getting into Iran, his advocates say, although they are saying he hadn’t been to Israel for 13 years. He was later sentenced on an extra cost of assembly with brokers of Israel’s Mossad intelligence company.
Iran’s historical past of wrongful detentions
The day earlier than the U.S. and Israel launched their strikes on Iran, Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Iran as the primary ever State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention. The designation was created final fall, after President Trump issued an Govt Order to Defend U.S. Nationals from Wrongful Detention Overseas.
“When the Iranian regime seized energy 47 years in the past, Ayatollah Khomeini consolidated his management of energy by endorsing the hostage taking of U.S. embassy workers,” Rubio mentioned in an announcement on the time. “For many years, Iran has continued to cruelly detain harmless People, in addition to residents of different nations, to make use of as political leverage towards different states. This abhorrent apply should finish.”
Valideza’s lawyer says U.S. particular envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner went into the newest negotiations with Iran, earlier than the struggle began, with Valideza’s title on a listing.
“The navy strikes have interrupted what I hoped was a dialog about Reza. I’ll say this: If the Iranians are in search of an off-ramp … that is to launch Americans which are being held, together with Reza, together with Kamran Hekmati,” Fayhee mentioned.
Ramsay, the retired FBI assistant director, additionally steered the American prisoners may current a possible diplomatic answer for the battle.
“We hear numerous completely different causes as to why this struggle has began and what the tip targets are. Issues like no extra enrichment of nuclear materials, no extra ballistic missiles, no use of proxies. We wish a fourth factor added to that, and that’s Iran ceases and desists all hostage diplomacy,” Ramsay instructed CBS Information.
Ramsay mentioned there additionally may very well be different choices to get the detainees dwelling.
“I’ve 30-plus years within the federal authorities behind me, and had you requested me … perhaps final yr or the yr earlier than, was issues like a rescue operation doable for this? And I might have instructed you no. However once we have a look at what this administration did in Venezuela with Maduro, I might say every part’s on the desk.”
A State Division spokesperson instructed CBS Information on Friday that it was conscious of stories of People detained in Iran previous to February 27, and that it seeks to supply consular help. The spokesperson mentioned Iran ought to instantly launch all People detained within the nation.
“President Trump has been clear that he needs each American wrongfully detained to be returned dwelling protected and sound, and that there can be dire penalties for regimes who deal with People as political pawns,” White Home Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly mentioned in an announcement to CBS Information on Friday.
