The very weak Biden administration has worked for a long time to try and secure the release of three US citizens being detained in the terrorist country of Iran.
Now the Iranians have detained a fourth US citizen, which some believe is a strategy to gain more leverage during these Biden negotiations.
Here’s more on this from Semafor:
Iran has arrested and detained a fourth U.S. national, further complicating the Biden administration’s efforts to secure an exchange of prisoners and lower tensions with Tehran.
The arrest of the American citizen, described to Semafor by three people briefed on the case, is now a central part of stepped-up negotiations between the two countries aimed at swapping Iranians detained in Western prisons for U.S. nationals. The talks, which have taken place in Oman as well as other countries, also revolve on the U.S. agreeing to green light the release of billions of dollars of Iran’s funds frozen in overseas banks, such as in South Korea.
Iranian officials have for months publicly suggested a deal was imminent, a position the Biden administration has disputed. But the inclusion now of a fourth American, whose identity we are withholding to avoid jeopardizing negotiations over their release, could be leading Tehran to up its demands, said the people briefed on the case.
To date, the U.S. has said publicly it’s focused on gaining the release of three Iranian Americans: businessmen Siamak Namazi and Emad Shargi and environmentalist Morad Tahbaz.
The Biden administration declined this week to provide comment to Semafor about this fourth case. But National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan alluded to it last week during an interview on Face the Nation. “We have tried very hard to secure the release of the four unjustly detained Americans in Iran, we have done so since the day that President Biden took office,” he said on Sunday.
A person directly briefed on the case and close to one of three Iranian American families told Semafor on Thursday: “Multiple senior officials at the State Department in the last few weeks have privately emphasized the U.S. and Iran have already agreed the fourth American will be part of any deal and there are no delays being caused by [the person’s] inclusion.”
Of course this is uninformed speculation, but it could be that Iran arrested a fourth US citizen because they’ve been asking for someone that the US was reluctant to release because they’ve committed such high value crimes.
But if Biden is anything like Obama, he’ll release the worst of terrorists to get a public victory for his re-election and he’ll do it when it matters most for his campaign. Call me cynical, but that’s just what I believe.