Hours before U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian military facilities began overnight on Saturday, the State Department designated Iran a state sponsor of wrongful detention. With an ongoing internet blackout in Iran, however, it is difficult to know what is now happening to U.S. prisoners.
It is widely believed that six Americans are held hostage within Iran, though some put the figure at eight. A State Department spokesperson explained that the department is “aware of reports of Americans detained in Iran prior to the February 27th conflict and seek to provide consular support.” They did not provide a specific count of U.S. detainees, citing “respect for [hostages’] safety and security.”
Only two American prisoners in Iran have been named: Kamran Hekmati, a 70-year-old Jewish Iranian-American, and Reza Valizadeh, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen and journalist who formerly reported for Radio Farda, the Persian language outlet for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Valizadeh was arrested in September 2024 while traveling to Iran to care for his elderly parents. He was charged with “collaborating with a hostile government,” and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Designated wrongfully detained in May 2025, Valizadeh is held at Evin Prison, a notorious site of torture and executions. Valizadeh reportedly “shares a small cell with up to 18 other inmates amid severe shortages of food, water, sanitation, and medical care.”
Hekmati, who had battled an aggressive form of bladder cancer prior to his imprisonment, is also held in Evin Prison. He was sentenced to four years in prison for traveling to Israel 13 years prior to his arrest to attend his son’s bar mitzvah. Though his sentence was reduced to two years, Kieran Ramsey, chief investigative officer at Global Reach, told me that the Iranian authorities are hoping to increase charges against Hekmati to include espionage.
Ramsey is concerned about American prisoners in Iran, particularly those held at Evin Prison. “There’s a whole club of Americans that have come out of Evin Prison over the years, and sadly, there’s a club of non-Americans that never came home,” he said. “They are brutal conditions.”
In the midst of the current war, Ramsey worries about instances of reprisal directed by guards or by fellow prisoners, particularly for Hekmati on account of his religion.
British prisoners Lindsay and Craig Foreman are held on espionage charges in Evin Prison and told family members two days after the conflict began that the prison guards had abandoned their posts. Other media reports have indicated that political prisoners are being transferred to Qom Central Prison. There is further concern that the prison may come under military attack, as occurred during the 12-day war.
Neda Sharghi’s brother, Emad Shargi, was a wrongfully detained American held in Evin Prison when prisoners started a fire in solidarity with protesters demonstrating on the streets in October 2022. During the chaos that ensued, Sharghi received a call from a panicked Shargi and told me that she could hear guards in the background, shooting at prisoners. Emad was later released after 5 and a half years in prison.
Though Sharghi says that she “know[s] the Trump administration is so dedicated to bringing our Americans home,” she added that she thinks “the families are desperate right now to see their loved ones’ names in the paper and on social media, and to hear them being said by the White House and the State Department.”
For Ramsey, the time has come for concrete action, “whether it is some kind of kinetic action or some kind of diplomatic action.” He noted that returning American prisoners could even present “a potential, slight off-ramp” for the Islamic Republic.
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“It doesn’t seem like all of Congress is aware that there are six Americans being held by Iran now,” Ramsey lamented. “We would like to see the Congressional Hostage Task Force put their full weight behind this to make sure that, as a whole of government effort, bringing these hostages home is a top priority.”
A State Department spokesperson told me that “the Iranian regime should immediately release all Americans detained in Iran.”