War with Iran fuels growing concern for safety of Americans imprisoned in the country

Advocates for at least four American citizens who were imprisoned in Iran before the attacks between the United States and Israel began are increasingly concerned about their safety, as intense bombardment continues throughout the country.

Two of those U.S. citizens have been publicly named: journalist Abdolreza “Reza” Valizadeh, 49, whom the U.S. State Department formally designated as “unjustly detained” by Iran in May 2025, and Kamran Hekmati, 61, arrested in July 2025 while visiting his family in Iran.

Both were held in Tehran’s famous Evin prison before the war began. Since then there has been no confirmed information regarding his whereabouts or condition.

Nonprofit groups say they are tracking at least two other U.S. citizens believed to be detained in Iran, whose identities News themezone cannot confirm.

“We know that Evin prison has been a military target of the Israeli government in the past. During the 12-day war [between Israel and Iran in June 2025]was actually bombed. “So we run the risk of Evin prison being hit by some kind of kinetic military attack,” said Kieran Ramsey, retired FBI deputy director and head of research for the organization Global Reach, which works to bring home Americans wrongfully detained abroad.

“So we run the risk of retaliation from other prisoners and from prison guards, because Kamran is American. He’s also Jewish. So our concerns continue to grow as the days go by,” Ramsey told News themezone.

“The IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, had notified the Evin prison neighborhood that residents had to leave to avoid an airstrike. So obviously the prisoners inside Evin don’t have the same luxury,” Ryan Fayhee, a lawyer representing Valizadeh and a partner at the Akin Gump law firm, told News themezone. “It’s totally black for us. We can’t contact Reza or his family in Tehran. So it must be true, he must feel very helpless right now.”

News themezone spoke with Joe Bennett, son of British prisoners Lindsay and Craig Foreman, who were also being held at Evin Prison. Bennett can have daily phone calls with his mother, who, earlier this week, reported explosions so close to the prison that windows were blown out. Until Friday, he remained in prison and was able to make his daily calls.

Who are Reza Valizadeh and Kamran Hekmati?

Valizadeh became a US citizen in 2022 after working for the US government-funded Radio Farda station, the Persian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

He believed he had received assurances that it was safe for him to return to Iran, where most of his family lives, but days after arriving in Tehran in 2024 for a visit, he was detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and taken to Evin prison.

He spent weeks under intense interrogation and in isolation, and Iranian officials did not publicly acknowledge his arrest for nearly two months. In December 2024, Valizadeh was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being accused of “collaborating with a hostile government,” according to a petition filed in January by his lawyer with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

Since then, his family says Valizadeh, who has asthma, has suffered coughing fits and been denied medication.

“As someone who has represented Americans wrongfully detained in the past, this is a very, very unusual situation where our ability to defend Reza is obviously muted right now with the military strikes,” Fayhee told News themezone. “It is difficult to imagine what a lawyer can do for Reza, other than ask the United States and the Israelis to exercise extreme caution in the area around Evin prison. And Reza is not the only American citizen within the walls of Evin.”

Hekmati, who lives on Long Island and runs a jewelry business in New York City, immigrated to the United States from Iran after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, say her advocates at the nonprofit Global Reach, which works to secure the release of Americans wrongfully detained abroad.

He had traveled to Iran several times due to an urgent family matter, but in May last year he was prevented from traveling and was finally arrested in July. He was then charged under a law that prohibits Iranian citizens from visiting Israel within a decade of entering Iran, his defenders say, although they say he had not been to Israel for 13 years. He was later sentenced on an additional charge of meeting with agents of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

Iran’s history of unjust detentions

The day before the United States and Israel launched their attacks on Iran, Secretary of State Marco Rubio Iran designated as the first state sponsor of unjust detention. The designation was created last fall, after President Trump issued an Executive Order to protect American citizens from wrongful detention abroad.

“When the Iranian regime took power 47 years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini consolidated his hold on power by endorsing the hostage-taking of US embassy staff,” Rubio said in a statement at the time. “For decades, Iran has continued to callously detain innocent Americans, as well as citizens of other nations, to use as political leverage against other states. This abhorrent practice must end.”

Valideza’s lawyer says US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner participated in the most recent negotiations with Iran, before the war began, with Valideza’s name on a list.

“The military strikes have interrupted what I hoped would be a conversation about Reza. I will say this: If the Iranians are looking for a way out… that is to release the American citizens who are detained, including Reza, including Kamran Hekmati,” Fayhee said.

Ramsay, the retired FBI deputy director, also suggested that American prisoners could present a possible diplomatic solution to the conflict.

“We heard a lot of different reasons about why this war started and what the ultimate goals are. Things like no more enrichment of nuclear material, no more ballistic missiles, no use of surrogates. We want a fourth thing added to that, and that is for Iran to cease and desist from all hostage diplomacy,” Ramsay told News themezone.

Ramsay said there could also be other options for bringing detainees home.

“I have over 30 years in the federal government under my belt, and if you had asked me… maybe last year or the year before, was a bailout operation possible for this? And I would have said no. But when we look at what this administration did in Venezuela with Maduro, I would say everything is on the table.”

A State Department spokesperson told News themezone on Friday that it was aware of reports of Americans detained in Iran before Feb. 27 and is seeking to provide consular support. The spokesman said Iran should immediately release all Americans detained in the country.

“President Trump has been clear that he wants all Americans wrongfully detained to return home safely, and that there will be dire consequences for regimes that treat Americans as political pawns,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to News themezone on Friday.