Washington D.C. – Al Monitor, June 18, 2026
The White House declined to say whether the six Americans would be included in a final deal.
The Trump administration often says it has no higher priority than securing the release of Americans wrongfully detained abroad. And yet, the deal President Donald Trump signed Wednesday doesn’t call for the release of the US citizens held in Iran, much less mention them.
In a June 7 interview, Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker that he wasn’t aware that any Americans were currently imprisoned in Iran.
“Nobody really has a list,” Trump said. “If you have a list of names, give them to me and I will get them out.”
Their identities, however, are not unknown within his administration. In late January, Al-Monitor reported that the State Department’s office for hostage affairs was tracking the cases of six Americans held in Iran.
They include Kamran Hekmati, a dual national with a jewelry business in New York who was arrested in July 2025 and sentenced to two years in prison for having traveled to Israel 13 years before to attend his son’s bar mitzvah. Also imprisoned in Iran is Reza Valizadeh, an Iranian-American journalist who was arrested in September 2024 and sentenced to 10 years in prison over his reporting in the Persian-language outlet Radio Farda.
California resident Afarin Mohajer is barred from leaving Iran under a travel ban. She was arrested during a visit to the country in September and charged with posting anti-regime propaganda on social media.
Of the six Americans, only Valizadeh and Hekmati are formally labeled “wrongfully detained,” a designation that brings increased State Department resources to their cases. Most of the families haven’t gone public for fear of Iranian reprisal, choosing instead to quietly advocate for their loved ones’ release.
