Four US citizens, two men and two women, are currently in Iranian custody, the New York Times reported last week.

The four Iranian-Americans traveled to Iran to visit family members, the report said, quoting human rights organizations. Three are still in prison, and one has been barred from leaving the country.

One of the Americans, a 70-year-old Jewish father and grandfather from New York who owns a jewelry business, was arrested in the wake of the Israel-Iran war and is being interrogated over a past trip to Israel.

The relatives of three of the Americans have requested anonymity, fearing that publicity could worsen their situation.

The report emphasized Iran’s decades-long use of “hostage diplomacy,” a policy of wrongful detention of dual nationals and foreigners to use as leverage for prisoner swaps and the release of sanctioned funds.

US President Donald Trump has made the release of wrongfully detained Americans in foreign countries a priority of his term.

US envoy Steve Witkoff did not respond to a query on whether the detention of US citizens was raised during communications with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi.

The State Department said that it is “closely tracking” reports of the detention of US citizens in Iran.

“For privacy, safety, and operational reasons, we do not get into the details of our internal or diplomatic discussions on reported US detainees, it said in a statement on Monday. “We call on Iran to immediately release all unjustly detained individuals in Iran.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)