According to NBC News the families of American’s detained in Iran have asked the Trump administration to end visas for relatives of prominent Iranian officials.
There are currently four American citizens and one U.S. legal resident held in Iran on various ambiguous politically motivated charges. Such detainees do not have proper legal defense and rights.
According to the report the families have handed over to the U.S. government a list of relatives of top Iranian officials. The list includes relatives of the powerful Speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani whose daughter is a resident in internal medicine in Ohio. Hassan Rouhani’s nephew who studied at City College of New York and now works in New York. The list also includes the son of prominent Iranian politician Massumeh Ebtekar who studies in Los Angeles.
Nadim Zakka whose father Nizar Zakka was lured into Iran for an internet conference and then detained said that terminating visas, "Is the minimum the United States Government can do to stop this trend of hostage-taking that has been happening for 40 years."
The report also quotes a State Department response that said "the United States is pursuing all options for pressing the Iranian regime to end their arbitrary detention of U.S. persons and will continue to press Iran on these cases until they are resolved."
