US: The Arrest of Reza Valizadeh Contradicts International Law

U.S. State Department officials confirmed on Sunday, November 4, the arrest of Reza Valizadeh, an Iranian-American journalist, stating that "this act is cruel and contrary to international law." Radio Farda reported on October 16 that this Iranian-American journalist, who had returned to Iran after years, was arrested in Tehran. Mr. Valizadeh, who previously worked for Radio Farda, left the media outlet in November 2022 and resided abroad for some time. U.S. State Department officials told the Associated Press on Sunday that they are aware of Reza Valizadeh's arrest in Iran and added, "We are working with our Swiss partners, who act as the U.S. interests protector in Iran, to gather more information about this case. Iran routinely unjustly detains American citizens and citizens of other countries for political reasons. This act is cruel and contrary to international law." Iran has yet to confirm Mr. Valizadeh's arrest. The Iranian delegation to the United Nations did not respond to requests for comment on this matter. Meanwhile, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty issued a statement on Sunday saying: "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is aware of the arrest of Reza Valizadeh, its former colleague, in Iran. We have not yet received official confirmation regarding the charges against him." The statement continued: "Reza, who holds dual citizenship of the U.S. and Iran, left Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in November 2022. We are deeply concerned about the continued arrests, harassment, and threats against journalists by the Iranian government." In Reza Valizadeh's last post on the social media platform X, he stated that he traveled to Tehran on March 6, 2024. In this post, he mentioned that he had unfinished negotiations with the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps but ultimately returned to the country at his own responsibility and without any guarantees, even verbally, after 14 years. It is unclear under what circumstances he wrote this post. Since the U.S. embassy crisis in 1979, during which dozens of hostages were released after 444 days, Iran has used prisoners with Western passports as leverage in negotiations with Western countries. In September 2023, five Americans who had been detained in Iran for years were released in exchange for the freedom of five Iranians detained in the U.S. and the release of six billion dollars of Iran's blocked assets by South Korea. Reza Valizadeh appears to be the first American prisoner since then whose arrest has been reported.