American Detained in Iran Urges US to Impose Consequences

The White House today declined to say whether it would impose further consequences on Iran for holding Americans prisoner, in response to a recent plea from detained American veteran Amir Hekmati.

"I don't want to speculate about any possible future action," White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at the daily news briefing.

"We continue to be very concerned about the unjust detention of a number of Americans inside of Iran," he said. "We have made those concerns known in quite public fashion. We've also made those concerns known privately, directly with the Iranian leadership. As recently as a month or two ago, Secretary of State John Kerry, on the sidelines of his nuclear negotiations with his Iranian counterpart, raised his concerns about this unjust detention."

"This continues to be a high priority for U.S. foreign policy," he said.

In a letter Monday, Hekmati urged lawmakers to "defend my dignity and that of my fellow Americans by putting in place serious consequences for this serial hostage-taking and mistreatment of Americans by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence for clearly illegal purposes."

The 31-year-old former Marine wrote how "after months of torture and solitary confinement, Iran's Ministry of Intelligence paraded a false and forced confession in international media in a failed attempt to humiliate the U.S. government."

Iran is demanding Hekmati be exchanged for Iranians being held in the U.S.

Hekmati, who has been held for nearly three and a half years, dictated the letter to his sister, Sarah Hekmati, who implored lawmakers to "do everything it can to press for Amir's immediate release."

"My brother proudly served his country and we now feel totally helpless and without adequate support from the administration in securing his return," Sarah Hekmati wrote in an accompanying letter.