A Jewish Iranian-American has been designated as wrongfully detained in Iran by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to a statement by the man’s cousin.
Kamran Hekmati, 61, is one of at least six U.S. citizens or permanent residents who are being held by Iran.
“This designation is an official recognition by the U.S. government that Kamran is being held on false charges in an effort by the Iranians to leverage the U.S. Government,” Hekmati’s cousin, Shohreh Nowfar, said in the statement.
‘Our Government Has Our Back’
Nowfar said the designation “reassures us that our government has our back in the effort to get Kamran home safely.”Kieran Ramsey, a former FBI assistant director with the Global Reach advocacy group, said Hekmati was arrested in 2025 and convicted under an Iranian law that prevents anyone from visiting Israel in the last 10 years.
Ramsey, who is working with the Hekmati family, said the jewelry shop owner had documentation proving his last trip to Israel was 13 years before his arrest.
Hekmati, who has bladder cancer, is believed to be held in Tehran’s Evin prison.
“For decades, Iran has continued to cruelly detain innocent Americans, as well as citizens of other nations, to use as political leverage against other states,” Rubio said in a statement at the time. “This abhorrent practice must end.”
“The Iranian regime must stop taking hostages and release all Americans unjustly detained in Iran, steps that could end this designation and associated actions,” the statement added.
Journalist Jailed for ‘Collaborating’
Valizadeh, who had worked for Voice of America’s Farsi language service, and his lawyer said he was jailed at the Tehran Revolutionary Court for “collaborating with the hostile U.S. government.”The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that Valizadeh had been in Evin prison when it was bombed by the Israeli military on June 25, 2025.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said he survived and was transferred to Fashafouyeh prison.
In September 2023 the Biden administration swapped Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi, Morad Tahbaz, and two other unidentified U.S. citizens who had been held in Iran in exchange for two Iranians imprisoned in the United States, and the release of $6 billion in frozen funds.
A month later, after Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, Republican members of the House Committee on Homeland Security criticized the exchange.
“We are ... deeply concerned about the administration’s recent actions, including its wrongful and misguided decision on the anniversary of September 11, to release $6 billion in frozen funds as part of a prisoner exchange to the Iranian regime, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,” they said.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
