Tehran Detains Fifth US Citizen

The American and Iranian flags in an illustration taken last September. (Reuters)
The American and Iranian flags in an illustration taken last September. (Reuters)
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Tehran Detains Fifth US Citizen

The American and Iranian flags in an illustration taken last September. (Reuters)
The American and Iranian flags in an illustration taken last September. (Reuters)

The total of US citizens detained in Iran has increased to five after the arrest of an American woman of Iranian origins, said Iranian extremist newspaper Khorasan.

The US woman used to work for NGOs in Afghanistan.

The newspaper added that Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani and US National Security Council official Brett McGurk have held Omani-brokered indirect talks that focused on releasing the fifth US citizen.

It added that the US suspended a deal to release four US nationals in Iran in return for four Iranian prisoners in the US “until the release of the US woman arrested” over spying charges.

Kani paid a visit to Oman last Thursday and held talks with Omani officials. It remained unclear whether he met US officials in Muscat or not.

Muscat hosted rounds of indirect talks between Kani and McGurk, reported Iranian and Western officials in June.

Iranian officials stated that the Omani-brokered dialogue increases the chances of releasing US nationals detained in Tehran in return for releasing some of Iran’s frozen assets in Iraq and South Korea.

“Iran has arrested and detained a fourth US national, further complicating the Biden administration’s efforts to secure an exchange of prisoners and lower tensions with Tehran,” reported the US Semafor news website weeks ago.

The arrest of the American citizen is now “a central part of stepped-up negotiations between the two countries” aimed at swapping prisoners, added the website.

Later, the Iranian Shargh newspaper reported that the fourth US citizen Shahab Dalili is of Iranian origins. He was arrested in March 2016 and sentenced to ten years in prison.



Florida Man Shot Israeli Visitors Thinking They Were Palestinians, Police Say

 Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)
Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)
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Florida Man Shot Israeli Visitors Thinking They Were Palestinians, Police Say

 Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)
Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)

A Florida man was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after shooting at a vehicle with two men who he thought were Palestinians but turned out to be Israeli visitors, local authorities and media reports said.

The website of Miami-Dade County Corrections says the suspect, 27-year-old Mordechai Brafman, was charged with two counts of attempted murder and booked on Sunday for the shooting on Saturday.

A police official confirmed earlier reports from local media that Brafman said in an interview with police that while he was driving his truck in Miami Beach, he saw two people he thought were Palestinian. He stopped, shot at and killed them.

However, the victims survived. One was shot in the shoulder and the other had a wounded forearm. They turned out to be Israeli visitors and not Palestinians, police said.

A representative or lawyer for Brafman could not be immediately identified by Reuters.

Human rights advocates say there has been a rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and antisemitic hate in the United States since the start of US ally Israel's war in Gaza following an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian group Hamas.