US says Iranian-American held in Iran as tensions high following Israeli attack on country

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a U.S. government-funded broadcaster is believed to have been detained by Iran for months now, authorities said Sunday, further raising the stakes as Tehran threatens to retaliate over an Israeli attack on the country.

The imprisonment of Reza Valizadeh was confirmed to The Associated Press by the U.S. State Department as Iran marked the 45th anniversary of the takeover of the American Embassy and hostage crisis on Sunday. It also followed a threat by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a day earlier to provide "a crushing response” to Israel and the U.S. as long-range B-52 bombers reached the Middle East in an attempt to deter Tehran.

Valizadeh had worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that's overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. In February, he wrote on the social platform X that his family members had been detained in an effort to make him return to Iran.

In August, Valizadeh apparently posted two messages suggesting he had returned to Iran despite Radio Farda being viewed by Iran's theocracy as a hostile outlet.

“I arrived in Tehran on March 6, 2024. Before that, I had unfinished negotiations with the (Revolutionary Guard's) intelligence department,” the message read in part. “Eventually I came back to my country after 13 years without any security guarantee, even a verbal one.”

Valizadeh added the name of a man who he claimed belonged to Iran's Intelligence Ministry. The AP could not verify if the person worked for the ministry.

Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Valizadeh had been detained. The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which monitors cases in Iran, said that he had been detained on arrival to the country earlier this year but later released.

He was then rearrested and sent to Evin prison, where he now faces a case in Iran's Revolutionary Court, which routinely holds closed-door hearings in which defendants face secret evidence, the agency reported. Valizadeh had faced arrest in 2007 as well, it said.

The State Department told the AP that it was “aware of reports that this dual U.S.-Iranian citizen has been arrested in Iran" when asked about Valizadeh.

“We are working with our Swiss partners who serve as the protecting power for the United States in Iran to gather more information about this case,” the State Department said. “Iran routinely imprisons U.S. citizens and other countries’ citizens unjustly for political purposes. This practice is cruel and contrary to international law.”

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty separately said that Valizadeh “has been detained in Iran.”

“We have had no official confirmation of the charges against him,” it said in a statement. "Reza, a U.S.-Iranian national, left RFE/RL in November 2022. We are profoundly concerned about the continued arrest, harassment and threats against media professionals by the Iranian regime.”

Iran has not acknowledged detaining Valizadeh. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

The Voice of America, another U.S. government-funded media outlet overseen by the Agency for Global Media, first reported that the State Department was acknowledging Valizadeh's detention in Iran.

Since the 1979 U.S. Embassy crisis, in which dozens of hostages were released after 444 days in captivity, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations with the world. In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in U.S. custody and for $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.

Valizadeh is the first American known to be detained by Iran since then.

Meanwhile, Iranian state television broadcast video Sunday of different cities across the country marking the anniversary of the embassy takeover.

Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard, also spoke in Tehran, where he repeated a pledge made the day before by Khamenei.

“The resistance front and Iran will equip itself with whatever necessary to confront and defeat the enemy,” he said, referring to militant groups like Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah backed by Tehran.

In Tehran, thousands of people at the gate of the former U.S. Embassy chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Some burned flags of the countries and effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

They also carried images of killed top figures of Iran’s allied militant groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Palestinian Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. The crowd in the state-organized rallies chanted that they were ready to defend the Palestinians.

Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Michael Weissenstein in New York contributed to this report.

An Iranian schoolgirl holds an anti-Israeli placard during an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian demonstrators hold up posters of the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, center and left, who was killed in Iraq in a U.S. drone attack in 2020, and the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in September, during an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

An Iranian demonstrator holds up a poster of the slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at the annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian demonstrators burn a representation of the U.S. flag in an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

An Iranian schoolgirl holds up her hand with a sign reading in Farsi: "Lebanon's Hezbollah" in an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian demonstrators burn a representation of the Israeli flag in an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Demonstrators wave Iranian and Palestinian flags in an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranians attend an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A woman shows her hand painted with the Palestinian flag in an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

An Iranian woman sits as she attends an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

An Iranian demonstrator holds a poster of the slain Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and a Palestinian flag in an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Holding posters of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Lebanon's Hezbollah flag, demonstrators chant slogans in an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A schoolgirl holds an effigy of the Uncle Sam as another one holds a poster of the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Women walk on an image of the Israeli flag put on the street in an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Holding a poster of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, students attend an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Just days after Tennessee announced it had a new manual for executing death row inmates, the state's top prison officials said they aren't going to release the document to the public.

The Tennessee Department of Correction last week told The Associated Press to file a public records request to obtain a copy of the latest execution manual, known as a protocol. However, the agency this week denied the AP's request, saying it needs to keep the entire document secret to protect the identities of the executioner and other people involved.

The decision to maintain secrecy differs from how the state has handled similar requests in the past, but mirrors efforts across the U.S. to suppress public access surrounding executions, especially after anti-death penalty activists used records to expose problems.

Here's what to know:

The protocol is typically a detailed set of procedures describing how the state executes death row inmates. Tennessee had been operating under a 2018 protocol that included directions on selecting execution team staff and the training they should undergo. It explained how lethal injection drugs should be procured, stored and administered. It gave instructions on the inmate's housing, diet and visitation in the days leading up to execution. It provided directions on how to choose media witnesses.

For lethal injection, the 2018 protocol required a series of three drugs administered in sequence.

The new version unveiled last week requires only a single dose of pentobarbital. But that is all that is known about the revised protocol.

In an email sent Monday, Tennessee correction spokesperson Kayla Hackney told the AP the “protocol is not a public record" and cited a Tennessee statute that makes the identities of the people carrying out executions confidential.

However, that same statute says the existence of confidential information in a record is not a reason to deny access to it, noting that the confidential information should be redacted.

In 2018, Tennessee's correction agency provided a redacted copy of the protocol to an AP reporter over email.

In 2007, a previous version of the protocol was treated as a public record and provided to the AP after former Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, announced a surprise halt to executions. A reporter's review of that 100-page “Manual of Execution” found a jumble of conflicting instructions that mixed new lethal-injection instructions with those for electrocution.

Executions have been on hold in Tennessee since 2022, when the state admitted it had not been following the 2018 protocol. Among other things, the Correction Department was not consistently testing the execution drugs for potency and purity.

An independent review of the state’s lethal injection practice later found that none of the drugs prepared for the seven inmates executed since 2018 had been fully tested. Later, the state Attorney General’s Office conceded in court that two of the people most responsible for overseeing Tennessee’s lethal injection drugs “incorrectly testified” under oath that officials were testing the chemicals as required.

Executions in the U.S. have remained at historic lows for years, but the small group of states still carrying out the death penalty have only increased the secrecy surrounding the procedures, particularly over how and where the state secures the drugs used for lethal injections.

Many states argue that secrecy is critical to protect the safety of those involved in the execution process. Yet in a 2018 report, the Washington-D.C.-based nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center found that this argument often led to these states refusing to provide information about the qualifications of their execution teams and some courts have criticized such arguments for lack of evidence that more public disclosure would result in threats against prison officials.

Kelley Henry, chief of the federal public defender’s habeas unit that represents many of Tennessee’s death row inmates, described the state's refusal to release the new protocol, given that background, as “mystifying."

“The secrecy, which cloaked the former execution protocol, created a culture of incompetence and lack of accountability,” she said in an email.

FILE - Ricky Bell, warden at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, gives a tour of the prison's execution chamber in Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 13, 1999. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)