Former hostages call for captives’ release as part of negotiations with Iran over nuclear weapons

As the Biden administration debates negotiating with Iran over its nuclear weapons, it should prioritize the release of captives held by the regime, former hostages said during a National Press Club Virtual Headliners event Friday, Feb. 12.

Nizar Zakka, Barry Rosen and Xiyue Wang, who were all held for varying lengths of time by Iran, said discussions over reviving the previous nuclear deal or agreeing to a new one must include hostage release, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken said is a “top tenet” of diplomacy.

“I know this is a big ask for the new administration, but the U.S. has a moral obligation to see that human rights is a fundamental part of foreign policy,” said Rosen, who was press attache at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and was held with 51 other Americans for 444 days in 1979. During his ordeal, Rosen was subject to mock executions, was bound and blindfolded for days and had automatic weapons held to his head.

At least 43 Americans are currently held hostage or unlawfully detained in 11 countries, according to the Foley Foundation, which tracks publicly known hostage cases.

Zakka, chief executive of Hostage Aid Worldwide and a captive in Iran for four years, said taking hostages is part of the Iranian regime’s “business model,” and something Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and intelligence services see as a way to gain leverage over Western countries.

“This is part of their foreign policy -- taking hostages,” Zakka said. Typically, the Iranian government will target academics or students on research trips in the country as they likely do not have political backing and so will be easy targets, as well as people in the country on business.

The Biden administration has shown willingness to revisit the Iran nuclear deal, which was a bid to slow the country’s nuclear ambitions in return for easing sanctions. Former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018 and reimposed those sanctions.

But Blinken and others in the administration have not firmly committed to having hostage release as a precondition of resuming negotiations with Iran, a position that Rosen urged them to reconsider.

“Think hard about making human rights and the nuclear deal hand in glove together when negotiating with Iran,” Rosen said.

Zakka said that if negotiations begin with Tehran and anyone is taken hostage, the negotiations should immediately end, while there should also be provisions in any final nuclear deal to ensure that if anyone is held captive subsequently, there are consequences for Iran.

Waiting for Iranian leaders to change their behavior is not wise, said Wang, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran but released in December 2019 under a prisoner swap. “The Iranian regime cannot be appeased,” he said.

And if no changes in Iran’s hostage policy are forthcoming, the former captives said sanctions must be painful, and show once and for all that the United States stands for human rights.

“As a global leader, the U.S. must not permit Iran to hold hostages any longer,” Zakka said.