Shahab Dalili's Son: The U.S. Says the Islamic Republic is Not Willing to Negotiate for His Father's Freedom

Daryan Dalili, the son of Shahab Dalili, states that an American official informed him that the Islamic Republic is unwilling to negotiate for the freedom of his father, who has been imprisoned in Iran since 2016. In an interview with the English section of Voice of America, Daryan Dalili said that the 'deputy special representative of the U.S. for Iran' told him that despite recent efforts for the exchange of dual nationals with the Islamic Republic, Shahab Dalili has been excluded from this exchange. According to him, the U.S. State Department also claimed that Shahab Dalili was not 'wrongfully' detained, which has raised further concerns for the family. In this conversation, Daryan Dalili also questioned the criteria used to assess 'illegal detention' and emphasized that his father's case requires more attention from U.S. officials. The deputy spokesperson for the U.S. State Department stated in a press conference on August 17 that in response to a journalist's question about Shahab Dalili's situation, 'as Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously mentioned, Shahab Dalili's case is not considered among the wrongfully detained dual nationals.' Vedant Patel added, 'We assess the conditions of detainees and look for indicators of illegal detention, and we will make decisions if these indicators are met.' In response to the concerns of Mr. Dalili's family, who had staged a sit-in and hunger strike in front of the White House, Patel said, 'As you know, the State Department regularly updates cases to determine whether the detention of an American citizen is illegal, and we conduct this review under the Levinson Act.' Shahab Dalili, a former captain of the Iranian shipping company and a resident of the U.S., returned to Tehran seven years ago to attend his father's funeral and was detained by government forces while intending to return to the U.S. after a one-week stay. His family has stated that he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for 'collaborating with a hostile government.' About three weeks ago, in a significant development 'towards freedom,' four of the five dual national Americans imprisoned in the Islamic Republic were transferred to house arrest 'in a hotel in Tehran,' which seems to be 'a step forward' in the 'hostage exchange agreement' between the United States and Iran. One person was already under house arrest. This is the first step of an agreement under which $6 billion of Iran's blocked assets in South Korea will be released in exchange for allowing these five American citizens to leave Iran. John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, responded on Friday to a question from the Persian section of Voice of America regarding the timing of the release of Iranian-American prisoners and their return to the U.S., saying that Washington is monitoring the mental and physical health of these prisoners through the Swiss Embassy (as the U.S. interests protector) in Iran. Kirby said, 'They are still under house arrest. We have been able to inquire about their status through the Swiss, and it seems that considering the conditions they have endured in Evin prison, which is a brutal environment for holding prisoners, they are in relatively good health and have a relatively good morale. I do not have an update on when this house arrest will end and under what conditions it will occur. We are still working with the Iranians on how we can negotiate for their final release, and I think you can understand that I cannot go into more detail at this time until that agreement is finalized.'