Joe Biden faced a dilemma that has confounded his predecessors in the White House — how to bring Americans home without inviting more hostage-taking.
U.S. law prohibits paying ransom to terrorist groups seizing American hostages, part of a “no concessions” policy that dates back to the1970s. But Americans unjustly imprisoned by other governments are defined as “wrongfully detained,” and U.S. law does not prohibit the executive branch from offering concessions to another state to get them out.
President Donald Trump meets with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un at the start of their summit in 2018.The State Department spokesperson at the time, John Kirby, later conceded that the administration had used the $1.7 billion as “leverage” to obtain the American prisoners’ release and refused to hand over the money until they had taken off on a flight from Tehran.
“When it comes to getting Americans out of jail and back home, and unjustly detained anywhere in the world, I’m happy to take any criticism that comes my way. for that,” Blinken told reporters. “I view it as job one to do everything I can to bring Americans home.” Dalili and other green card holders, including Jamshid Sharmahd, a software developer living in California who was kidnapped during a 2020 stopover in the United Arab Emirates and taken to Iran, have not been officially designated by the U.S. government as “wrongfully detained,” which would oblige the administration to take more decisive action.
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