TEHRAN, Jan 21 (NNN-ISNA) – Spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, denounced the “blatant hostage-taking of Iranian national” by the U.S. government.
Khatibzadeh made the remarks, when asked about the arrest, in the U.S., of Iranian university professor, Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi, for allegedly acting as an unregistered “foreign agent” on behalf of Tehran.
“Unfortunately, the U.S. is addicted to this kind of actions and they take hostages under any pretext,” he said.
Iran’s government, he further noted, hopes the new U.S. administration will move away from such approach, that Khatibzadeh linked to former President Trump.
Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi, he went on to say, is a well-known university professor, who has been arrested on “unrealistic charges.”
This is not, the official went on, the first time that Washington relied on “baseless allegations” to “create trouble” for Iranian citizens in different countries, and “take hostages.”
Khatibzadeh voiced hope that the Iranian professor’s problem will be solved as soon as possible.
Afrasiabi, a U.S. resident for more than three decades, according to American media press reports, was taken into custody by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), on the accusation that he violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), Washington Post reported on Tuesday.– NNN-ISNA
