The wife of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini appeared on Fox News on Monday to renew her call for the US government to secure her husband's release.
Naghmeh Abedini and her two children recently spent their third New Year and Christmas without their beloved family member, and said that he is still suffering in "one of the worst prisons in the world."
Abedini became a Christian in 2000, and maintains that he travelled to his native country in September 2012 to help build a state-run orphanage.
He was arrested for proselytising, and has reportedly been beaten by inmates and guards while incarcerated. He was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2013.
"This is a new year," Naghmeh told host Jeanine Pirro.
"I'm hoping that our government will do efforts to bring Saeed home. He is there because he's a Christian. The Iranian government doesn't like that because he's a convert, and the government needs to - as President Obama has said - 'leave no man behind.'
"This is the best chance for Iran to show good faith effort... Iran is the one who needs to show the US that we can trust them at some point and in some capacity by releasing my husband."
ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow criticised the Obama administration for approving a plan to provide about $4.2 billions in sanctions relief to Iran after the country suspended some of its nuclear development work.
"The end result is we're getting nothing in return, including our own American citizen released," Sekulow said. "A civilian - who was an Iranian national originally, became a United States citizen ... an American pastor held in jail.
"We're sitting across the table from the Iranians, and Naghmeh's husband, the father of those two kids, [is] in jail while we're looking at the foreign minister, and we don't have the guts to say, 'Let our guy go'?"
Over 300,000 people have signed an ACLJ petition calling for Pastor Abedini's release. The human rights organisation also began a postcard campaign to flood the White House with requests for Abedini's freedom.
The pre-printed postcards are $25.60 for 100, with decreasing costs for every 100 postcards thereafter. Over 80,000 have been ordered.
