Iranian-American held in Iran as tensions high following Israeli attack on country, U.S. says
An Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a U.S. government-funded broadcaster is believed to have been detained by Iran for months now, authorities said Sunday, further raising the stakes as Tehran threatens to retaliate over an Israeli attack on the country.
The imprisonment of Reza Valizadeh, acknowledged to CBS News and the Associated Press by the U.S. State Department, came as Iran marked the 45th anniversary of the American Embassy takeover and hostage crisis on Sunday. It also followed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatening both Israel and the U.S. the day before with “a crushing response” as long-range B-52 bombers reached the Middle East in an attempt to deter Tehran.
Valizadeh had worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that’s overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. In February, he wrote on the social platform X that his family members had been detained in an effort to see him return to Iran.
five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in U.S. custody and for $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.
Valizadeh is the first American known to be detained by Iran in the time since.
Meanwhile, Iranian state television aired footage Sunday of different cities across the country marking the anniversary of the embassy takeover.
Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard, also spoke in Tehran, where he repeated a pledge made the day before by Khamenei.
“The resistance front and Iran will equip itself with whatever necessary to confront and defeat the enemy,” he said, referring to the militant groups like Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah backed by Tehran.
In Tehran, thousands at the gate of the former U.S. Embassy chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Some burned flags of the countries and effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
They also carried images of killed top figures of Iran’s allied militant groups including Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Palestinian Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. The crowd in the state-organized rallies chanted they were ready to defend the Palestinians.
Tensions are heightened in the Middle East after a war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Israel’s offensive has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, who do not say how many were combatants but say more than half were women and children.
Hezbollah, who is also allied with Iran, began firing rockets, drones and missiles from Lebanon into Israel in solidarity with Hamas immediately after. The yearlong cross-border fighting boiled over to full-blown war on Oct. 1, when Israeli forces launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon for the first time since 2006.
Iran, one of Israel’s bitter foes, launched its own attack, unleashing about 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Oct. 1. Israel retaliated, targeting Iranian military facilities in airstrikes on Oct. 25.
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Source: cbsnews.com