On moving to Iran, former Tehran bureau chief at the Washington Post Jason Rezaian was planning to enlighten readers with colorful tales of the country, which was mostly closed off to the outside world.

His plans quickly went awry: on July 22, 2014, he was arrested and in 2015, was convicted of espionage.

In an interview with Business Insider, Rezaian staunchly criticized the regime but also dismissed Trump's policies towards the regime as being "misguided and underinformed".



When Jason Rezaian moved to Iran, his intention was to make his way as a storyteller; not to turn into a story.

As Tehran bureau chief at the Washington Post, his plan was originally to regale readers with tales of a colorful life in a country largely closed off to the outside world — not to write about grey walls.

While Rezaian's mother is American, his father is in fact Iranian. In theory, he would have been the ideal candidate for painting readers a truer, more three-dimensional, and more multi-faceted picture of Iran where not everything is about by mullahs, missiles, and underground nuclear plants.

Just six weeks before his plans went awry, Rezaian had been filming for "Parts Unknown", discussing Iranian culture and heritage with Anthony Bourdain — but then came July 22, 2014.

Rezaian was arrested by the Iranian authorities and thrown into prison. A day turned into a week, then a month, and then a year. He was convicted of espionage in a closed-door trial in Iran in 2015.

There's just one 'small' issue in Iran — there's no television or radio

The accusations against Rezaian were rather wild.

In Tehran, he was suspected of being at the head of the CIA, an American spy. If you're in an Iranian mullah state — considering the Americans are the arch-enemies of the Iranian regime — it can't really get much worse than that.

Just six weeks before his arrest, Rezaian was filmed for the CNN docu-series Parts Unknown, discussing Iranian culture and heritage with Anthony Bourdain. Reuters

If he were to admit to everything, he could take the next plane to the USA, the torturers are said to have told Rezaian — but Rezaian wasn't prepared to admit to anything. He's a journalist; not a CIA agent, he insisted.

However, that's not really what the Iranian authorities wanted to hear so they threw him into a cell — solitary confinement, to be precise. No lawyer, no judge, no TV, no radio — completely cut off from the outside world.

Read also: Justice Department says former US Air Force agent turned on her own, revealed US spies to Iran

No one need tell Rezaian how arbitrary the Iranian regime can behave in these sorts of situations — nor Barack Obama, who signed a nuclear agreement with Iran, nor Donald Trump, who pulled out of the deal is now trying to bring the country to its knees with tough economic and financial sanctions.

In an interview with Business Insider, Rezaian staunchly criticized the regime, speaking of "oppression, injustices, terror" — words that also came to Trump's mind when he spoke about Iran.

Yet Rezaian distances himself from the president's policies on Iran, describing them as "misguided and under-informed".

Rezaian's story can only be understood in the context of big politics. It reflects bitter power struggles between Iran and the USA, but also within the Iranian leadership. Rezaian's arrest coincided at exactly the same time as Obama introducing new policies of détente towards Iran, leading to tough negotiations over the country's nuclear program.

Iran was instructed to freeze the program as the Americans demanded, but at what cost?

Rezaian had powerful allies right from the start

The Iranian regime was divided — on one hand, there were moderates around President Hassan Ruhani who wanted the country to open up; on the other, there were the arch-conservatives — including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard — who didn't trust the USA and rejected a deal.

Last but not least, there was Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran — the most powerful man in the state — somewhere in between. It was the Revolutionary Guard that landed Rezaian in prison. He somehow became the arch-conservatives' pawn in their power struggle with the moderates and, at the same time, a pawn in Iran's nuclear negotiations with the US.

Rezaian had powerful allies from the outset, his own family and the Washington Post included. They pressured the US government and Iran's regime from the outside, using creative and outspoken means to demand he be freed.

However, Rezaian was completely unaware of what was happening — the prison guards went as far as trying to convince him that he'd been abandoned and that no one was fighting for him. "Their job was to instil fear in me," he told Business Insider. "By placing me in solitary confinement, they meant to mislead me and disconnect me from the reality outside."

Washington Post Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan during a book discussion with former Iranian prisoner Jason Rezaian. Getty Images

Then, 49 days later, his time in solitary confinement was over. The guards put him in a cell with another inmate. There he could at least watch Iranian state television. "It aired a lot of propaganda," Rezaian said, "but even in spite of this, things became apparent. I couldn't tell exactly what was going on in the world but I could glean that there were at least some attempts taking place to free me."

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif described Rezaian as a "good reporter". Leonhard Foeger/Reuters

The bizarre thing is that even Iran's moderate government seemed to have doubts about the accusations against Rezaian: with foreign minister Javad Zarif even describing him as a "good reporter", according to the Washington Post.

He added that he hoped Rezaian would be acquitted in court — except that he wouldn't. In October 2015, Rezaian was sentenced to a prison term, the length of which wasn't disclosed.

Trump reversed Obama's Iran policy

Rezaian's ordeal ended as abruptly as it began, on January 16, 2016 — after 544 days in prison.

"I was very frustrated that I, a well-known reporter, who was legally and transparently covering the country, was made to suffer for that long," Rezaian said, recalling his time in detention. "My anger was always directed at the people who took me hostage and the people within the Iranian regime. But I wished at that time [the US government] had done more."

Rezaian only learned afterward that the Obama administration spent months negotiating his release — secretly and separately from the nuclear talks.

Despite the dire circumstances, Rezaian was probably still pretty lucky: the nuclear deal seemed to open a new chapter in the relations between Iran and the US. It was probably no coincidence, therefore, that Rezaian's release and the signing of the nuclear deal fell on the same day. "The timing was very important," Rezaian said. And then-President Obama announced: "We've achieved this historic progress through diplomacy, without resorting to another war in the Middle East."

President Barack Obama delivering a statement on relations between the US and Iran, including the release of US hostages that were held in Iran. Getty Images

The world has changed since then — Barack Obama is no longer sitting in the White House; Donald Trump is.

The policies of détente are long gone and the US is putting Iran under massive pressure. In turn, Iran is reacting with what it has so that, once again, Americans are finding themselves imprisoned in the land of the mullahs — and their chances of freeing themselves look to be slim.

"When Trump left the nuclear deal," explained Rezaian, "the first thing I thought was: Americans trapped in Iran will be stuck there for a very long time. Their chances of freeing themselves are dwindling. That breaks my heart."

Rezaian has criticized the efforts of the current US government to isolate Iran from the rest of the world.

"The Soviet Union was the USA's biggest enemy in the Cold War," he said. "Nevertheless, there have always been conversations, there have always been contacts."

EU does not want to participate in Trump's Iran policy

Relations between the US and Iran are considerably different now — there's been no shortage of threats from either side.

Americans "must understand that war with Iran is the mother of all wars and peace with Iran is the mother of all peace," said Iran's Prime Minister Hassan Ruhani last year, according to a Reuters report.

Trump's response, almost entirely written in capital letters over Twitter was: "Never, ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before."

The US is doing its utmost best to isolate Iran, crippling the country's economy with sanctions. Trump's travel ban is also making it near impossible for Iranian citizens to come to the US.

US President Donald Trump speaks during the Missile Defense Review announcement at the Pentagon in Washington on January 17, 2019. Getty Images

"We're cutting off all human contact. At the same time, the US government says it supports the aspirations of the Iranian people," Rezaian complained. "Its claims don't match its actions."

He even went as far as suggesting that the US' approach is counter-productive: "The sanctions and limitations on the mobility of the Iranian people aren't hindering the regime; they're simply strengthening it."

Rezaian has another approach in mind — the world needs to allow the Iranian people to have their say. He favors Europe's policies towards Iran's over Trump's. The European Union has no interest in jumping aboard the American pressure bandwagon; it wants to continue trading with the regime.

"Europe can see in Iran a potential partner they can work with in terms of trade and regional security issues," explained the journalist. " The Trump administration, on the other hand, cannot. At the same time, it's supporting a regime in Saudi Arabia — a regime that reportedly murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi and is fighting an incredibly inhumane war in Yemen. At least Europe at least understands that the balance of power in the Middle East needs to be readjusted."

Rezaian favors Europe's policies towards Iran's over Trump's. Getty Images

Europe has its own problems with Iran. As Business Insider learned from the Federal Foreign Office in Germany, four German citizens are currently being held in prison in Iran. It’s unclear how many of them are imprisoned for political reasons.

After all, the country isn't shy about throwing EU citizens into prison for somewhat unclear reasons.

As Business Insider was told by the Federal Foreign Office in Germany, there are also four Germans currently being held in prison there. How many of them are imprisoned for political reasons is unclear.

Read more: Iranian media says a 'verdict has been issued' against a US Navy veteran held there since July

Rezaian has resumed what he does best: writing stories.

In January this year, he published his book "Prisoner". As well as recounting in detail his time in Iran's most notorious prison, he also gives readers a much broader picture of Iran.

Rezaian has also held onto ties with the country in other ways — he still regularly writes as a "Washington Post" columnist about Iranian politics, although he hasn't ventured back since 2016.