Three American citizens, including The Washington Post’s correspondent in Iran, appear to have been detained this week in Tehran, U.S. officials and the newspaper said Thursday.
Washington Post foreign editor Douglas Jehl said the newspaper has received “credible reports” that correspondent Jason Rezaian and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, were detained Tuesday evening in Tehran. It is unclear who detained them or why.
“We are deeply troubled by this news and are concerned for the welfare of Jason, Yeganeh and two others said to have been detained with them,” Jehl said in a statement.
Jehl said that Rezaian, who has been The Post’s correspondent in Tehran since 2012, “is an experienced, knowledgeable reporter who deserves protection and whose work merits respect.”
Members of Rezaian’s family said they did not want to comment at this time.
Rezaian, 38, holds American and Iranian citizenship. Yeganeh, an Iranian citizen who has applied for U.S. permanent residency, works as a correspondent for the National, a newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates.
The other two American citizens detained with them work as freelance photojournalists. Officials have not yet identified them by name.
Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman, said that American officials are aware of reports of the detention of three U.S. citizens in Tehran this week.
“Our highest priority is the safety and welfare of U.S. citizens abroad,” she said. Harf said she had no additional information to disclose.
Hamid Babaei, a spokesman for the Iranian mission at the United Nations, said in an e-mail that Iranian diplomats are looking into the reported detentions.
© The Washington Post, 2014
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