U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Iran would
face "new and serious consequences" unless all unjustly detained
American citizens were released and returned, the White House said in a
statement on Friday.
Trump urged Iran to return
Robert Levinson, an American former law enforcement officer who
disappeared more than 10 years ago in Iran, and demanded that Tehran
release businessman Siamak Namazi and his father, Baquer.
The
statement capped a week of rhetoric against Tehran. On Tuesday,
Washington slapped new economic sanctions against Iran over its
ballistic missile program and said Tehran's "malign activities" in the
Middle East undercut any "positive contributions" coming from the 2015
nuclear accord.
Those measures signaled that
the Trump administration was seeking to put more pressure on Iran while
keeping in place an agreement between Tehran and six world powers to
curb its nuclear program in return for lifting international oil and
financial sanctions.
Friday's statement said
Trump and his administration were "redoubling efforts" to bring back all
Americans unjustly detained abroad.
An Iranian
court sentenced 46-year-old Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father
Baquer Namazi to 10 years in prison each on charges of spying and
cooperating with the United States.
Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained Siamak in October 2015 while
he was visiting family in Tehran, relatives said.
The
IRGC arrested the father, a former Iranian provincial governor and
former UNICEF official in February last year, family members said.
Levinson,
a former agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and for the Drug
Enforcement Administration, disappeared in Iran in 2007 and the U.S.
government has a $5 million reward for information leading to his safe
return.
An Iranian court sentenced Xiyue Wang, a
Chinese-born U.S. citizen graduate student from Princeton University,
to 10 years in jail on spying charges, Iran's judiciary spokesman said
on Sunday.
"Iran is responsible for the care
and wellbeing of every United States citizen in its custody," the White
House said in the statement.
Separately, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Oman's foreign affairs minister, Yusuf bin Alawi on Friday.
Washington
has in the past sought Oman's mediation to help in securing the release
of detained Americans abroad. Last year American prisoners held captive
by Yemen Houthi rebels were released after Omani mediation.
Oman also paid bail that ultimately helped in the release of three American hikers in 2010 and 2011.
