DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian hard-line newspapers and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are criticizing the arrest in the U.S. of an American anchorwoman from Iran’s state-run English-language TV channel.
The hard-line Vatan-e Emrooz paper on Thursday criticized the detention of Press TV’s Marzieh Hashemi as “Saudi-style behaviour with a critical journalist.” That’s a reference to the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
Zarif told Press TV that “we have a right to continue to look after her interests” as Hashemi, born Melanie Franklin in New Orleans, also holds Iranian citizenship.
Iranian law, however, does not recognize dual nationalities, which often comes up in Iranian arrests of those with Western ties.
Hashemi’s son says she’s being held on a material witness warrant after the FBI arrested her.
The Associated Press
