US Says Iranian-American Held in Iran Amid High Tensions

Iran's national flag flies in the wind on the roof of the Consulate General of Iran in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)
Iran's national flag flies in the wind on the roof of the Consulate General of Iran in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)
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US Says Iranian-American Held in Iran Amid High Tensions

Iran's national flag flies in the wind on the roof of the Consulate General of Iran in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)
Iran's national flag flies in the wind on the roof of the Consulate General of Iran in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

An Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a US government-funded broadcaster is believed to be 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 The Associated Press by the US 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 Ali Khamenei threatening both Israel and the US 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 US 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.
In August, Valizadeh apparently posted two messages suggesting he had returned to Iran despite Radio Farda being viewed by Iran's theocracy as a hostile outlet.
“I arrived in Tehran on March 6, 2024. Before that, I had unfinished negotiations with the (Revolutionary Guard's) intelligence department,” the message read in part. “Eventually I came back to my country after 13 years without any security guarantee, even a verbal one.”
Valizadeh added the name of a man who he claimed belonged to Iran's Intelligence Ministry. The AP could not verify if the person worked for the ministry.
Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Valizadeh had been detained. The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which monitors cases in Iran, said that he had been detained on arrival to the country earlier this year, but later released.
He was then rearrested and sent to Evin prison, where he now faces a case in Iran's Revolutionary Court, which routinely holds closed-door hearings in which defendants face secret evidence, the agency reported. Valizadeh had faced arrest in 2007 as well, it said.
The State Department told the AP that it was “aware of reports that this dual US-Iranian citizen has been arrested in Iran" when asked about Valizadeh.
“We are working with our Swiss partners who serve as the protecting power for the United States in Iran to gather more information about this case,” the State Department said. “Iran routinely imprisons US citizens and other countries’ citizens unjustly for political purposes. This practice is cruel and contrary to international law.”
Iran has not acknowledged detaining Valizadeh. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Voice of America, another US government-funded media outlet overseen by the Agency for Global Media, first reported the State Department was acknowledging Valizadeh's detention in Iran.
Since the 1979 US Embassy crisis, which saw dozens of hostages released after 444 days in captivity, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations with the world. In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in US 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.



At Least 36 Killed as Bus Overturns in India's Uttarakhand State

File photo: A roadside assistance worker tows away the mangled remains of a double-decker passenger bus that collided with a milk truck, near Unnao, in northern India state of Uttar Pradesh, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo)
File photo: A roadside assistance worker tows away the mangled remains of a double-decker passenger bus that collided with a milk truck, near Unnao, in northern India state of Uttar Pradesh, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo)
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At Least 36 Killed as Bus Overturns in India's Uttarakhand State

File photo: A roadside assistance worker tows away the mangled remains of a double-decker passenger bus that collided with a milk truck, near Unnao, in northern India state of Uttar Pradesh, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo)
File photo: A roadside assistance worker tows away the mangled remains of a double-decker passenger bus that collided with a milk truck, near Unnao, in northern India state of Uttar Pradesh, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo)

At least 36 people were killed and six were injured after a bus plunged into a gorge in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand on Monday, an official told Reuters.
The bus was traveling from Garhwal in the Himalayas and was headed to the town of Ramnagar, with at least 42 passengers on board, Devendra Pincha, a local police officer said by phone.
Visuals from ANI news agency, in which Reuters has a minority stake, showed an overturned bus lying beside a river at the base of a hill.
State Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on X an inquiry would be carried out into the cause of the incident.