Daughter of US Citizen Jailed by Iran Says She Has Lost Confidence in US Efforts

Tara Tahbaz, daughter of Iranian-American environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who is held in Iran’s Evin prison and also has British nationality, poses before an interview with Reuters in Madrid, Spain, April 22, 2023. (Reuters)
Tara Tahbaz, daughter of Iranian-American environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who is held in Iran’s Evin prison and also has British nationality, poses before an interview with Reuters in Madrid, Spain, April 22, 2023. (Reuters)
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Daughter of US Citizen Jailed by Iran Says She Has Lost Confidence in US Efforts

Tara Tahbaz, daughter of Iranian-American environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who is held in Iran’s Evin prison and also has British nationality, poses before an interview with Reuters in Madrid, Spain, April 22, 2023. (Reuters)
Tara Tahbaz, daughter of Iranian-American environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who is held in Iran’s Evin prison and also has British nationality, poses before an interview with Reuters in Madrid, Spain, April 22, 2023. (Reuters)

The daughter of an environmentalist imprisoned by Iran said on Saturday she had lost confidence in US President Joe Biden's efforts to free her father.

Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian-American who also holds British citizenship, has served five years of a 10-year sentence after being convicted of spying.

He was briefly released to house arrest with an electronic tag in March 2022 when two other dual nationals, including British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, were allowed to leave Iran.

In July his lawyer was quoted as saying he had been granted bail, but his daughter said he was now back in jail.

"I think being told since Biden has taken office that our loved ones are a priority, and then seeing no action - it is hard to hold hope," Tara Tahbaz told Reuters in Madrid while she was visiting from the United States to see relatives.

She said her family and the relatives of two other US prisoners in Iran hoped Biden would grant them time to explain their stories at a meeting in Washington scheduled for next month.

She said her father, now 67, suffered from prostate cancer and had had COVID-19 three times in jail.

The United States has urged Iran to release Tahbaz and two other citizens, Emad Shargi and Siamak Namazi, who are all imprisoned on espionage charges that Washington says are baseless.

US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel tweeted on Saturday: "We once again call on Iran to cease unjustly imprisoning foreign nationals for use as political leverage and to release US citizens Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, and Siamak Namazi."

Namazi, an oil executive, was jailed for 10 years in 2016 on charges of spying and cooperating with the US government. Shargi was convicted in 2021 and also sentenced to 10 years.



Zelenskiy Presents New Joint Forces Commander to Ukraine Troops

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
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Zelenskiy Presents New Joint Forces Commander to Ukraine Troops

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy presented the new joint forces commander on Wednesday to troops defending the eastern frontline region of Donetsk.

Zelenskiy announced on Monday he was appointing Brigadier-General Andriy Hnatov to the post, which involves strategic planning of operations, replacing Lieutenant-General Yuri Sodol who had faced criticism over serious military setbacks.

Hnatov's main tasks include "preserving as many fighters' lives as possible" while repelling the invading Russian forces, Zelenskiy said in a video address posted on social media.

One of his meetings during the trip addressed security and support for the people of the Donetsk region, including water provision, social issues and evacuation, Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.

Zelenskiy recorded the video address against the backdrop of a city sign of Pokrovsk, along part of the front that has seen some of the most intense fighting during Russia's 28-month-long full-scale invasion.

In the video, he expressed surprise that some relevant government officials had not visited the region in six months or more.

"There will be a separate conversation in Kyiv, particularly with officials who must be here and in other areas near the frontline – in difficult communities where people need immediate solutions," Zelenskiy said. "Solutions that simply cannot be seen from Kyiv."

Zelenskiy and his army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also listened to reports from frontline positions.

Ukraine's military has found itself on the back foot this spring as Russian forces opened a new front in the northeastern region of Kharkiv in May and continued to press Ukrainian forces in other directions.