The wife of Christian Pastor Saeed Abedini said the US government has lost its leverage in working for the release of prisoners of faith after the announcement of the nuclear deal with Iran.
Naghmeh Abedini told Newsmax TV on Wednesday that her husband's chances [of obtaining freedom] "have gotten worse'' since the Iran deal was announced July.
"I'm not a politician, but from day one we said Iran's not going to release them unless there's leverage," Abedini told "The Steve Malzberg Show" in an interview.
"We've lost that leverage now — and we've said before they even sat down to speak regarding the nuclear deal two years ago, 'Demand the release of the Americans.'
"We said, 'Before you walk away from the deal, make sure they're released and secured,'" she added. "And all along, our government has been saying, 'Oh, they'll do the right thing.'
The Senate had previously asked the Obama administration "to use the tools it has in pursuit of what should be a bipartisan goal: securing the release of American citizens being held as hostages by the regime in Iran," said the Guardian.
President Obama also reportedly assured the Abedinis that the release of the Christian pastor and the other two Americans from Iran prisons was a "top priority.''
In July, Fox News reported that Secretary of State John Kerry had "politely" asked the Iranians to release the hostage after the deal was finalised, "but neither he nor Obama appeared willing to cancel the deal if the Iranians failed to do so.''
At the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this week, Iran President Hassan Rouhani said his government will work for the release of the three Americans if the United States frees 19 jailed Iranians in their custody, according to CNN.
Until the meeting of world leaders in New York, Abedini and other human rights activists had been hopeful that the new Iran deal would still include to secure the release of the three hostages as a precondition to lifting the sanctions.
But Abedini said the deal lets Iran get away with these unjust imprisonments without facing any consequences.
"We've created the environment for them to act in good faith," Abedini said. "Now, they said they were wrong — and we've lost the leverage."
