PD Editorial: Jason Rezaian's release a promising step with Iran

U.S.-Iranian relations took a welcome step forward with the release of North Bay native and Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian and four other Iranian-Americans, all of whom had been held prisoner in Iran on dubious charges.

The four were part of a prisoner exchange that came as the United States and Iran completed an agreement involving the lifting of economic sanctions in exchange for controls on Iran’s nuclear program. The exchange was announced Saturday as Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif were meeting in Vienna, where the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran had fulfilled its obligation to ship 8.5 tons of enriched uranium out of the country and disable thousands of centrifuges so they can’t be used to produce fuel for nuclear weapons.

Many people doubted that Iran would ever comply, and the Obama administration’s decision to impose some new sanctions this week after Iran tested long-range missiles in violation of a U.N. ban is a reminder that dealing with Tehran remains a challenge.

The release of the prisoners was an unexpected bonus - the product of 14 months of secret negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.

Rezaian, 39, grew up in Mill Valley and worked in his father’s Petaluma store before starting a career in journalism. He had been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison along with other political prisoners since July 2014 on espionage charges that can best be described as vague.

Others included in the exchange were Amir Hekmati, 32, a Marine veteran from Flint, Mich.; Saeed Abedini, 35, an evangelical Christian pastor from Boise, Idaho; and a man identified as Nosratollah Khosravi, whose arrest and incarceration had not been publicly reported. A fifth man, described as a detained student named Matthew Trevithick, was released in a separate arrangement.

According to his family, Hekmati was apprehended in 2011 after arriving in Iran to visit his grandmother. Abedini, who was born and raised in Iran before becoming a U.S. citizen five years ago, had established small house churches in Iran. He was convicted in 2013 of threatening Iran’s national security.

Their release came as a relief for their families and friends, though it didn’t come without a final complication that almost scuttled the exchange. Authorities at Tehran’s airport initially refused to allow Rezaian’s wife and mother to leave the country.

Only after Kerry called Zarif were allowed to board the plane that took the released prisoners to Switzerland, the first stop on their trip home.

Yeganeh Salehi, Rezaian’s wife, was arrested along with her husband on July 22, 2014. Salehi, also a journalist, was later released. Rezaian’s mother, Mary Rezaian, had gone to Iran during his imprisonment.

It was widely speculated that Rezaian, as well as at least the three other Americans, were just pawns in a power struggle within the political halls of Tehran. And the failure to secure the freedom of these individuals as the United States and its allies had come to terms on a deal with Tehran for the lifting of financial and oil sanctions was a blemish on the foreign policy work of the Obama administration.

Their release now shows that engagement with Iran can produce clear breakthroughs in diplomatic relations, as was also demonstrated last week with the quick release of 10 U.S. sailors who were arrested after their two boats strayed into Iranian territorial waters.

U.S.-Iran relations have a long way to go and, no doubt, will be pushed to extremes in the days to come as Iran’s pledge to scale back its nuclear program is put to the test. But this was a promising start.