Journalist Reza Valizadeh Caught Up In U.S.-Iran Conflict | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON – Iran and America are poised for conflict. The Trump administration has surrounded the Middle Eastern nation with a staggering amount of navy personnel and tools, and lots of officers and consultants now see an American strike inside weeks as inevitable, prone to spur a pointy Iranian response, then a spiraling and grotesque battle. The greatest method to avert that final result is profitable diplomacy, however its prospects are extraordinarily slim. Trapped in Iran’s most infamous jail is an ailing Iranian American journalist whose scenario helps clarify why: Reza Valizadeh.

Imprisoned by Iranian authorities over his ties to the U.S. and work as a reporter, Valizadeh was deemed “wrongfully detained” by the State Department in May 2025. That unlocked “special consideration” and authorities assets to assist free him, a GOP congressional aide advised HuffPost. The standing bolstered Valizadeh’s relevance to President Donald Trump’s private “commitment to leaving no American behind” and to Washington’s total declare of combating Iranian repression.

“We have a lot of faith in the negotiators [with Iran] and the president. This has been a top-of-mind issue for him and for the administration: They don’t waver on bringing people home,” the Republican aide mentioned, saying Trump had up to now freed roughly 150 Americans held overseas. Asked for touch upon Valizadeh, the State Department despatched HuffPost a press release from a U.S. official demanding his launch and that of “all others unjustly detained in Iran,” including: “The Iranian regime has a long and shameful history of unjustly detaining U.S. nationals.”

But at the moment, the likeliest situations for Valizadeh’s launch seem extraordinarily unbelievable. That is partially due to the Trump administration’s selections because it has each negotiated with Tehran and subjected it to navy and financial strain — together with direct American assaults final summer time — in pursuit of limits on Iran’s nuclear program, missile capabilities and regional affect. Meanwhile, Iran’s personal calculations complicate the prospect too.

Previously, agreements between U.S. and Iranian officers to alternate prisoners like Valizadeh have helped Washington and Tehran cut back tensions.

Ryan Fayhee, Valizadeh’s legal professional within the U.S., mentioned he doesn’t imagine the 2 nations at the moment are contemplating such a swap. Instead, Fayhee sees Iran releasing Valizadeh and different U.S. residents “to reset their own standing in the region and to allow for a greater focus on the issue or issues the Iranians want to engage the U.S. on.”

Iran’s different American detainees embody two septuagenarians, he mentioned, arguing such detentions damage the nation’s worldwide picture. (At least 4 Iranian-Americans are estimated to be in Iranian captivity.) And Fayhee famous Tehran doesn’t seem like pushing Washington to launch any of its residents held within the United States.

“I don’t know exactly what the U.S. government strategy is [but given] initial contacts, I’m feeling very optimistic that there’ll be an opportunity to discuss these matters, because previously there were not communications,” Fayhee advised HuffPost.

A gesture of goodwill or PR bid by Iran is conceivable, however arduous to think about amid fixed threats and conflicting messages from Trump. The president on Friday mentioned he’s contemplating a restricted assault on Iran, the day after he mentioned he nonetheless believes a deal is feasible. Trump framed an assault as a negotiating tactic. Yet even an ostensibly modest strike would trigger Iran to “walk away” from talks with Trump, a senior diplomat from the area advised HuffPost on Thursday.

Iranian leaders, who’re making an attempt to reassert energy after brutally suppressing home protests final month, are reluctant to seem weak relative to the U.S. or make large concessions, however the Trump administration continues to demand sweeping restrictions on Iran that might be perceived as a capitulation. Talks between envoys in Switzerland on Tuesday provided little proof of a compromise. On Thursday, the U.S. official advised HuffPost: “Progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss. The Iranians said they would come back in the next two weeks with detailed proposals to address some of the open gaps in our positions.”

Some analysts imagine that given these gaps and the indicators Trump is leaning towards an assault, Iran’s management now sees outright combating as its greatest step strategically, quite than taking steps to de-escalate by, for example, liberating American detainees.

“Tehran may calculate that the longer the war lasts and the higher the stakes become, the U.S. will be more likely to look for a way to end it. Negotiations then could yield a different — and more desirable — result for Iran,” Vali Nasr, a Johns Hopkins University professor, wrote within the Financial Times on Thursday. “Many in the west will interpret this line of thinking as a catastrophic miscalculation… But it would be a mistake if they dismiss it.”

Iran’s assessments of its choices draw partly on its interpretation of U.S. strikes. As Trump’s negotiating group — dominated by particular envoy and fellow actual property developer Steve Witkoff and now together with the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner — has held discussions with Iranian counterparts, few indications have emerged that these talks prioritize American detainees.

“Shockingly, the administration has completely dropped the case of American hostages in Iran. They haven’t brought it up even once,” mentioned Ali Vaez, an analyst on the International Crisis Group suppose tank. “I hope that this will be part and parcel of a deal, not as a follow-on to it.”

When HuffPost requested the regional official if Iran may free jailed Americans to enhance the tone across the talks, the official mentioned it might be greatest for the dialogue to focus narrowly on Iran’s nuclear program, within the vein of the final settlement between Iran, the U.S. and different world powers (which Trump weakened after which deserted regardless of Iranian compliance).

In Iran’s view, the U.S. is already in violation of a previous settlement over detainees, Vaez famous. In September 2023, the Biden administration agreed to let Iran faucet $6 billion in frozen oil income held outdoors the nation as a part of a prisoner alternate deal, just for Washington to freeze the cash once more after the Oct. 7, 2023, assaults on Israel by the Iranian-backed Palestinian militia Hamas, which led to the bloodbath of a whole bunch of civilians.

Iranian officers raised that cash in talks with the Trump administration final yr, a former U.S. official advised HuffPost, arguing their concern was not even the quantity however proof that the U.S. would observe by way of on its phrase. Trump made “an explicit decision not to release the funds,” the official mentioned.

Iran doesn’t seem to “recognize the political toxicity that exists for this administration” relating to the Biden-era settlement, the previous official continued, noting the freeze was extensively handled in Washington, together with by many Democrats, as “the de facto punishment for Oct. 7.” Any try and free the cash would doubtless draw sharp resistance from Congress and recent gambits to focus on Iran.

With the 2 sides “talking past each other,” the most recent U.S.-Iran discussions “went poorly,” the previous official mentioned. Asked concerning the administration’s avowals that it want to keep away from a conflict, the official recalled Trump’s negotiations with Tehran earlier than the Israeli offensive in opposition to the nation final yr that the U.S. joined: “I thought we were against the June war until we weren’t.”

Held in a cell in Evin jail together with 17 others, in a ward the place 200 inmates share 4 bogs and with out entry to important prescription throat treatment or remedy for his dental and gastrointestinal points, Valizadeh is amongst those that can be most susceptible if a U.S.-Iran battle breaks out. HuffPost drew details about his case and circumstances from a report Fayhee ready for United Nations consultants.

Now 50, the jailed reporter was arrested in September 2024, after he traveled to Iran to go to his aged mother and father upon receiving assurances he wouldn’t be focused for his years of criticizing the Iranian authorities and dealing for Radio Farda, a Persian information outlet funded by the U.S. authorities. He was held in solitary confinement and interrogated, together with about his radio work, for greater than two months, earlier than being sentenced following transient hearings in an Iranian court docket the place the choose additionally acted because the prosecutor. Valizadeh’s legal professional was not allowed to characterize him, the report says, and his attraction was rejected in January 2025.

War has worsened Valizadeh’s 18-month imprisonment. During the U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran final summer time, the Israeli navy hit the Evin jail in an obvious conflict crimekilling and injuring civilians. Valizadeh was close to one explosion. He and different screaming prisoners confronted one other blast, then had been shot at by guards and “hovered between life and death,” Valizadeh’s brother advised the Committee to Protect Journalists final yr.

The smoke severely worsened Valizadeh’s bronchial asthma and led to his being briefly transferred to a different jail identified for contaminated meals and higher isolation, in accordance to his brother.

Detained Americans’ circumstances could possibly be an element as Trump weighs a strike and a doable tit-for-tat battle with Iran, endangering tens of hundreds of different Americans throughout the Middle East.

“That’s a significant variable in this in that the protection of American citizens is one of the government’s most sacred priorities,” the GOP aide mentioned. “It’s a consideration moving forward, in particular regarding Evin prison. That’s front of mind not only for [Valizadeh’s] advocates but also the administration.”

But the Trump administration has additionally subjected a whole bunch of U.S. residents to violence and detentions and prompt some ought to be stripped of citizenship. And in coping with individuals linked to Iran, it has claimed to help their human rights, together with to dissent in opposition to the Iranian authorities, whereas barring most Iranian nationals from touring to America and inflicting mass impoverishment by way of sanctions.

The U.S. official who emailed HuffPost wrote: “We remind U.S. nationals of the warning on travel.state.gov: ‘Do not travel to Iran for any reason.’ Americans there should leave.”

For Valizadeh, that’s not an choice.