Fate of Four Captive Americans Hangs Over Iran Talks

As a June 30 deadline approaches for a nuclear deal with Iran, the fate of four Americans imprisoned or missing in the Islamic Republic hangs over the talks and has provoked a debate on Capitol Hill.

Three — a former Marine, a pastor and a journalist — are accused of espionage or undermining Iran’s national security. Their families tell a different story: one was visiting his elderly grandmother; another was supporting Christian churches in private homes and an orphanage; the third is a reporter for The Washington Post.

The fourth, former FBI agent Robert Levinson, 67, was reportedly on a CIA fact-finding mission when he went missing in 2007 on Kish Island off Iran’s coast. In 2011, his family in Florida received photos from Afghanistan showing him in an orange jumpsuit.

Their representatives in Congress call the men hostages. Iran doesn’t recognize the three imprisoned men as Americans because their fathers were Iranian and denies any knowledge of Levinson.

Their plight has set off arguments between lawmakers who insist that the U.S. should demand their freedom as part of any deal limiting Iran’s nuclear capabilities and others who say the four shouldn’t be treated as bargaining chips.

Many Republicans say freeing the men must come first.

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