UANI Applauds Bipartisan Effort To Strengthen U.S. Hostage Recovery Efforts

Hostage-Taking Remains ‘Major Industry’ In Iranian Geopolitical Strategy

(New York, N.Y.) – United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) Advisory Board member Barry Rosen, a survivor of the Iran Hostage Crisis, released the following statement today in support of a bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to empower the president to impose sanctions on American hostage-takers, elevate the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs to the rank of Ambassador, and mandate an inter-agency Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell and a Hostage Response Group.

“UANI strongly supports efforts by Representative Ted Deutch and collegues to bring American hostages home from Iran and impose a more severe cost on the Iranian regime for its unlawful and inhumane practice of hostage-taking. The shocking events of 1979 established an unacceptable regime policy that continues to this very day. This bipartisan bill is another positive step in the maximum pressure campaign. With the heightened risk to the hostages’ health amid the outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran, I urge Members of Congress to support this bill and call upon the international community to demand Tehran end its hostage-taking and return all hostages home safely.”

The Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act was introduced by Representatives Ted Deutch, Joe Wilson, Ted Lieu and Michael Waltz just days prior to the 13th anniversary of Robert Levinson’s kidnapping in Kish Island, Iran. Iran acknowledged last year that it has an “ongoing case” against Levinson, the longest-held American hostage in history, who was last seen in photos nearly nine years ago.

As U.S. Principal Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Hugh Dugan remarked at UANI’s Iran Summit in September, hostage taking is “now a major industry in Iran’s arsenal of international affairs.”

In January, UANI called on Iran to release all remaining hostages, including at least four Americans currently in Iranian captivity in violation of the International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages and urged the international community to demand Tehran end its violent tactics and return all hostages safely to their families. UANI’s resource, American and Western Hostages, outlines the stories and updates of those Americans and other Westerners currently being held captive in Iran.

To read UANI’s resource American and Western Hostages, please click here.