White House Rejects Zarif's Statements Regarding 'Baqer Namazi's Situation'

The White House has rejected the statements of Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, regarding the situation of Baqer Namazi, an American-Iranian citizen. The White House stated that Mohammad Javad Zarif is either trying to deceive us or is completely unaware of the conditions in Iranian prisons. In an interview with a CBS News reporter aired on Wednesday, July 19, Zarif responded to a question about Baqer Namazi's situation. The CBS News reporter asked: 'Baqer Namazi, an American citizen over 80 years old, is not in good health; why is he not released on humanitarian grounds?' The White House has said that Zarif is either trying to deceive us or is completely ignorant of the conditions in the government's prisons, which is why he speaks about Baqer Namazi's real situation in this way. Baqer Namazi, 81, a former UNICEF official, was arrested in Iran in February 2016. His son, Siamak Namazi, a 46-year-old former Iranian-American director of strategic planning at Crescent Petroleum, was arrested four months earlier during a trip to Iran. The Iranian Revolutionary Court sentenced both to 10 years in prison, claiming they committed espionage and contacted the U.S. government. Meanwhile, a White House official told CBS News that both Baqer and Siamak Namazi are ill. This official added that we believe Baqer and Siamak Namazi are being mistreated in Evin Prison because they are American citizens. While Mohammad Javad Zarif stated that Baqer Namazi is being kept outside of prison, it has been reported that the Namazi family's lawyer announced that Baqer Namazi's wife met with him in Evin Prison a day before the Iranian Foreign Minister's interview. Reports indicate that currently three American citizens are imprisoned in Iran. Reports also indicate that Xiyu Wang, a Chinese-American researcher at Princeton University, has recently been sentenced to ten years in prison in Iran. Yao Wang was arrested about a year ago, but news of his arrest was released on Sunday when the Iranian judiciary spokesperson announced his prison sentence for 'illegal entry' into the country and 'sending confidential information abroad.' According to the Associated Press, this 37-year-old student, who Iranian officials say holds dual citizenship from China and the U.S., traveled to Iran to research his doctoral thesis on the history of Europe-Asia in the 19th and early 20th centuries.