WASHINGTON
The U.S. will continue to voice concerns about Iranian policies that undermine regional stability or that are inconsistent with global norms and values, regardless of a nuclear deal is reached, a U.S. official said Thursday.
Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, delivered his remarks on the P5+1 nuclear negotiations with Iran during a two-day symposium organized by Syracuse University’s Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
He remained cautious about the nuclear talks and said he would not say anything to jeopardize them, however, Sherman’s emphasis on Iran’s human rights record dominated the speech.
“We will continue to hold Iran’s government accountable for all aspects of its human rights record and for actions that exacerbate sectarian divisions,” he said.
He noted that he and his team has raised their concerns regarding the status of U.S. citizens missing or detained in Iran.
“Nothing matters more to me as under secretary of state than ensuring the fair treatment of American citizens. Amir Hekmati, Saeed Abedini, Jason Rezaian should be allowed to return without delay to their families,” he said.
Hekmati is accused of being a spy. He was detained in August 2011 and held in solitary confinement for months. He was sentenced to death in January 2012 as the first American to receive the death penalty in Iran in more than 33 years.
Abedini, an Iranian American Christian pastor, has been detained since the summer of 2012. He was sentenced on Jan. 27, 2013, to eight years in prison, reportedly on charges of undermining Iran's national security.
Rezaian is a Washington Post correspondent in Tehran. Since his arrest in July, he and his wife Yeganeh Salehi, also a journalist, have been held in detention. Iranian authorities have not disclosed their whereabouts, welfare, or the reason for their detention.
Sherman also noted that Robert Levinson, an American citizen who went missing in Iran, should be found.
Levinson is an American private investigator and retired Drug Enforcement Agency and FBI agent. He went missing in Iran in March 2007 while visiting Iran's Kish Island, supposedly researching a cigarette smuggling case.
Talks between Iran and the permanent five members of U.N. Security Council – China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and the U.S. – plus Germany to stop Iran’s nuclear program have been extended through Nov. 24. An agreement was reached on a preliminary joint plan of action last November.
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