Wife of Imprisoned Pastor in Iran Criticizes Obama Administration Following Nuclear Agreement

The wife of Saeed Abedini, a pastor imprisoned in Iran, and the wife of Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent reportedly missing in Iran, criticized the Obama administration for agreeing to a nuclear deal without considering the fates of their husbands. In response to the Vienna nuclear agreement, Nagmeh Abedini stated on Tuesday that during a meeting with President Barack Obama in January, she urged him not to accept any agreement that would not lead to her husband's freedom. Christian Levinson also called on American leaders to address the issue of her husband's disappearance 'with the same priority and urgency they afforded to the nuclear negotiations.' The Washington Post previously reported that U.S. officials had raised the situations of Amir Hekmati, Saeed Abedini, Jason Rezaian, and Robert Levinson multiple times during the nuclear negotiations with Iran. Sara Hekmati, Amir Hekmati's sister, and Ali Rezaian, Jason Rezaian's brother, traveled to Vienna during the nuclear talks to draw public attention to the fates of these two prisoners. Pastor Saeed Abedini was arrested after returning to Iran and sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of 'acting against national security.' Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent, disappeared in March 2007 while visiting Kish Island. Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American journalist for the Washington Post, has been detained since July of last year. Amir Hekmati was arrested in 2011 while visiting Iran to see his grandmother and was initially sentenced to death on charges of 'espionage' and 'collaboration with hostile countries,' but this sentence was later reduced to ten years in prison.