President Donald Trump's recent actions and comments on Iran could impact a deal made under former President Barack Obama to release a group of hostages with U.S. ties, the Washington Examiner reports.
The Examiner lists five people with dual citizenship who've been imprisoned by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after the Iran nuclear deal. This includes Iranian-American businessmen Alireza Omidvar, Siamak Namazi, and Namazi's father, Baquer; Iranian-Austrian Kamran Ghaderi; and Lebanese citizen Nizar Zakka, who is a permanent legal resident in America.
Iran announced after Trump's order on immigration that it will take "proportionate legal, consular and political action and ... will take reciprocal measures in order to safeguard the rights of its citizens until the time of the removal of the insulting restrictions of the government of the United States against Iranian nationals," according to CNN.
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., the ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, claims Trump's executive order and his antagonistic remarks on Iran could hurt America's relationship with its allies and prevent these hostages from being returned to the U.S..
"It affects America's credibility globally, including our ability to speak out for individuals who are in stress situations, such as those who are being held hostage to be able to get the appropriate attention or to be able to get people moving back and forth the way they should," he said.
Cardin added that if Tehran wanted to send a representative to negotiate the hostages' release, "That person is now barred from coming to the United States."
"It's dangerous because of individuals who could be trapped in countries and may never survive as a result of this. It's dangerous because Americans may be a greater target than they are today. It's dangerous because of recruitment by terrorist organizations that are using this."
Cardin's colleague on the Foreign Relations panel, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., said that Iran's imprisoning dual citizens "just shows what an awful agreement" the nuclear deal was.
"It didn't modify Iran's behavior to the better — it modified it to the worse — it emboldened them," he said in an interview, according to the Examiner. "So our response has to be to fully enforce the Iranian agreement, and that means slapping on additional sanctions. And we have to stick to the overarching goal to prevent Iran from becoming even more of a menace."
"We always want prisoners, hostages back — but what overrides all of that is what is in the best national interest in securing peace and security."
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