Daughter of Imprisoned Environmentalist in Iran Loses Faith in Biden’s Efforts

Tara Tahbaz, the daughter of Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian-American and British citizen who has been imprisoned in Iran for five years on spying charges, has expressed doubt in U.S. President Joe Biden’s efforts to secure her father’s release. Speaking to Reuters in Madrid, Tara Tahbaz, who was visiting from the United States to see relatives, stated that she had lost confidence in President Biden’s promises to prioritize the release of her father and other U.S. prisoners in Iran.

Morad Tahbaz was briefly released to house arrest with an electronic tag in March 2022, when two other dual nationals, including British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, were allowed to leave Iran. However, in July, his lawyer reported that he had been granted bail but was subsequently returned to jail, according to Tara Tahbaz.

“I think being told since Biden has taken office that our loved ones are a priority, and then seeing no action – it is hard to hold hope,” Tara Tahbaz told Reuters. The daughter of Morad Tahbaz revealed that her father, who is now 67 years old, has been suffering from prostate cancer and has contracted COVID-19 three times while in jail.

The United States has been urging Iran to release Morad Tahbaz as well as two other U.S. citizens, Emad Shargi and Siamak Namazi, who are also imprisoned on what Washington has called baseless espionage charges. In a statement, U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel reiterated the call for their release, saying, “We once again call on Iran to cease unjustly imprisoning foreign nationals for use as political leverage and to release U.S. citizens Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, and Siamak Namazi.”

Siamak Namazi, an oil executive, was sentenced to 10 years in jail in 2016 on charges of spying and cooperating with the U.S. government, while Emad Shargi was convicted in 2021 and also sentenced to 10 years.

Tara Tahbaz and the relatives of Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and Siamak Namazi are hoping that President Biden will grant them time to explain their stories at a meeting scheduled in Washington next month. However, Tara Tahbaz’s loss of confidence in President Biden’s efforts to free her father underscores the challenges faced by families of imprisoned dual nationals in Iran who have been seeking their loved ones’ release for years. The situation remains uncertain as they continue to hope for positive developments in the ongoing efforts to secure their release.