Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamad Javad Zarif on Wednesday indicated that he thinks Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who faces espionage charges in Tehran, may have been encouraged to spy on the Iranian government by a "low-level" U.S. intelligence operative. U.S. officials and the Post have called the charges against Rezaian meritless. File Photo: UPI/Maryam Rahmanian |
License Photo
TEHRAN, April 30 (UPI) -- A reporter for the Washington Post, who is being held in Iran on espionage charges, may have been asked by a U.S. government operative to spy on Tehran, the nation's foreign minister said Wednesday.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking Wednesday at New York University, suggested that a low-level U.S. intelligence operative may have asked reporter Jason Rezaian to do some spying in the Middle Eastern nation. Rezaian is the Post's Tehran bureau chief and has been detained for nine months on spy charges.
Zarif didn't identify who he thought may have asked Rezaian to spy for the government, but said those seeking visas to the United States are vulnerable, the Washington Post reported.
"The fact is, there are people who take advantage of the needs of some people who try to get a visa to come to the United States, or for their wives to come to the United States, and make demands that are illegal and dangerous and damaging to the professionalism of a journalist," Zarif said, in the Post report.
Rezaian, 39, is a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen from California who was imprisoned last July on espionage allegations. His Iranian wife was also arrested but has since been released on bail.
Another Post reporter asked Zarif Wednesday whether Iran might release Rezaian if Tehran and Western powers reach a nuclear agreement before June 30 -- an agreement that would lift economic sanctions on his government.
"Unfortunately, your friend and my friend, Jason, is accused of a very serious offense and I hope he's cleared in a court," Zarif said.
Rezaian is charged with four counts of attempting to destabilize Iran's national security.
The Post reported that U.S. officials have raised Rezaian's case, as well as those of other imprisoned Americans there, during the ongoing negotiations seeking a nuclear deal. The framework of a deal was agreed to weeks ago, and negotiators have until the end of June to ratify it.
"Any assertion that Jason was other than a hard-working journalist trying to tell the story of Iran and the Iranian people to the world is absurd," a State Department official said.
Wednesday, the Post also published an editorial titled, "Iran must pay a price for detaining Jason Rezaian."
"This blatantly unjust treatment is showing Iran to be a country where well-meaning foreign visitors, including potential Western investors, are vulnerable to being seized as hostages or used as pawns in power struggles they have nothing to do with," the Post's editorial board said.
"As long as the journalist is held, Iran should pay a price."
