US Warns Citizens on Tenth Anniversary of Jason Rezaian's Arrest: Do Not Travel to Iran

Abram Paley, the US Special Representative for Iran, on Monday, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the arrest of Jason Rezaian and his wife, Yeganeh Rezaian, in Iran, once again warned American citizens to avoid traveling to Iran. He noted that although Rezaian and other unjustly detained American citizens have been released from Iranian prisons and reunited with their loved ones, the Islamic Republic continues its practice of detaining citizens of other countries to use them as leverage. This senior diplomat from the US State Department emphasized, 'We continue to work with other countries affected by this inhumane practice to combat and end it.' He further reminded that the US State Department has no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens and reiterated that they should 'not travel to Iran for any reason.' According to Abram Paley, 'American citizens traveling to Iran face a real risk of harassment, intimidation, arbitrary detention, and unjust imprisonment.' He warned that traveling to Iran could lead to detention based on fabricated charges. Jason Rezaian was arrested in July 2014 on false and baseless charges of 'espionage.' In July 2015, a final agreement was reached in the nuclear negotiations, and Rezaian was released after 18 months in prison on January 16, 2016, exactly on the night of the implementation of the 'JCPOA,' along with Amir Hekmati, another Iranian-American, as part of a controversial exchange. After his release and return to the United States, Rezaian has participated in numerous campaigns to support other unjustly detained dual citizens in Iran and other countries. A federal judge in the US in Fall 2019 ordered the Iranian government to pay $180 million to Jason Rezaian and his family for damages caused by his 18 months of imprisonment. In January 2019, during his lawsuit in a Washington court against the Iranian government, Rezaian sought $43 million in material damages and $1 billion in punitive damages. Many political experts believe that the Islamic Republic of Iran detains foreign citizens, especially dual nationals, based on baseless charges and uses them as political bargaining tools, effectively taking these citizens hostage.