Concerns are growing about Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh, who has been wrongfully detained in Iran

When Abdolreza “Reza” Valizadeh returned to Iran in the spring of 2024, it was the first time he had set foot in his home country in fifteen years. The veteran journalist, who had spent more than a decade in exile, traveled to Iran to see and care for his elderly parents.

Six months later, he was held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison.

Valizadeh, a 49-year-old American and Iranian citizen and longtime critic of Iran’s security establishment, was arrested on September 22, 2024 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). His detention, detailed in a petition filed by his lawyer on Tuesday with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, comes amid Iran’s sweeping crackdown on protests across the country and as tensions with Washington simmer.

The State Department formally designated Valizadeh as “wrongfully detained” in May 2025, placing his case under the authority of the U.S. government’s hostage affairs bureau. Valizadeh is one of at least four Iranian-Americans currently being held in Iran, including 70-year-old Kamran Hekmati and at least one other septuagenarian woman, sources familiar with the case confirmed to CBS News.

“By submitting this petition to the UN, in addition to using all the power at our disposal in DC, we want to draw attention to Reza’s case, not only to secure his release, but also to send an unequivocal message that targeting American citizens abroad will not be tolerated,” Ryan Fayhee, Valizadeh’s counsel and partner at law firm Akin Gump, said in a statement.

“Every day that Reza remains behind bars emboldens the Iranian regime to target Americans who dare to advocate for truth, justice and a better future for the Iranian people,” Fayhee said.

Valizadeh’s case continues to unfold against a volatile backdrop in Iran, where thousands of demonstrators are believed to have been killedand many thousands of others were arrested, such as authorities have cracked down about recent demonstrations over economic hardship and political repression. There has been an almost total internet and communications outage for more than two weeks.

US officials have condemned Tehran’s treatment of demonstratorswarning of further economic pressure – and possible military attacks – while leaving open the possibility of talks. Iranian leaders have accused Washington of meddling, raising concerns among human rights activists that Americans held in Iran could be used as leverage as tensions rise.

President Trump said last week that he had postponed the attack on Iran after the regime assured him that the executions of hundreds of protesters had been “cancelled,” but called for “new leadership” in Iran in a recent interview. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group has begun moving west from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East, CBS News has confirmed, and is expected to arrive in the coming days.

“The Trump administration is closely monitoring Mr. Valizadeh’s case. President Trump has made clear that he wants every wrongfully detained American to return home,” a senior administration official told CBS News.

The State Department and a spokesperson for the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

‘These Americans need to come home’

Valizadeh became a US citizen in 2022 through his work for US-funded broadcaster Radio Farda, the Persian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

According to reports his family gave to his lawyer, Valizadeh believed he had received assurances from Iranian authorities that it was safe to return to Tehran, where most of his family lives. His brother has said he now believes these assurances were part of a set-up, possibly involving a former colleague with ties to the IRGC.

Persian-language media later cited sources as saying that Iranian intelligence had hoped to pressure Valizadeh to collaborate against his former employer, Radio Farda, for which he reported on corruption, protests and the influence of the IRGC. He refused.

Days later, IRGC agents detained him on a street in Tehran, seized his belongings, including his US passport, and took him to Evin prison, where he was isolated and intensively interrogated for weeks. Iranian officials did not publicly acknowledge his arrest for almost two months.

Valizadeh was ultimately charged with “collaboration with a hostile government,” a vague national security offense that Iranian authorities routinely use against journalists and activists.

In December 2024, after what the petition to the UN describes as a show trial that lasted less than an hour and in which the judge acted as both prosecutor and juror, Valizadeh was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His appeal to the regime was rejected in January 2025.

Since then, his family says Valizadeh’s health has steadily deteriorated. He suffers from asthma, which has been exacerbated by overcrowded cells, poor air quality and exposure to smoke and debris – conditions that worsened after Israeli airstrikes hit parts of Evin prison in June 2025 during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran. He has endured frequent coughing fits and has been denied basic medications, dental care and treatment for gastrointestinal problems.

After the June strikes, Valizadeh was among the prisoners who were chained and transferred to another facility without their belongings or medicine, according to the U.N. filing, before being returned to Evin prison, where his brother says he now shares a small cell with up to 18 other prisoners, amid severe shortages of food, water, sanitation and medical care.

Lawyers for other US citizens wrongfully detained have recently appealed to the UN for help. They include Baquer Namaziwho was allowed to leave Iran in 2022 for a life-saving operation in the UAE, and Ryan Corbettwho was imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan and released in a prisoner exchange in January 2025.

“Family is at the core of Iranian culture. This is why so many Iranian Americans travel back to Iran – to visit elderly parents and connect with their extended family. Unfortunately, this respect for family is also what gives the regime a steady influx of dual nationals to feast on,” said Neda Sharghi, the sister of a former wrongful detainee. Mother’s Shargi and an advocate for American hostages and their families, told CBS News. (The siblings use slightly different spellings of their last names.)

“President Trump has witnessed the brutality of the Iranian regime. He also knows that there are innocent Americans, like recently detained Reza Valizadeh and Kamran Hekmati, among others, who are ensnared by the regime’s hostage tentacles. These Americans must come home and President Trump and his team have shown us that, at least when it comes to American hostages and unlawful detainees, they will do whatever it takes to achieve their freedom,” Sharghi said.

With the help of Sharghi and Valizadeh’s family, Fayhee has received three pre-recorded voice messages from Valizadeh since September detailing the circumstances of his detention. The last came on December 20.

Neither Valizadeh nor his family have been in contact since Iran’s crackdown and nationwide internet blackout.

Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.