CNN
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Americans who were unfairly detained in Iran have worked with the State Department to warn American citizens not to travel to the country “under any circumstances,” urging those planning to “cancel your trip.”
Emmad Shargi was among the five Americans who were released in September 2023 as part of a wider deal between the US and Iran. He spent over five years in prison there.
X In a video posted by the State Department account on Thursday, Shargi warned all Americans, including Iranian-Americans, without visiting.
“Now is a particularly bad time to travel there. You may want to visit family and loved ones, but there is a great risk of arrest and imprisonment by the Iranian regime,” he said. “Trust me, it’s not worth tortured for years of your life.
“If you are planning on traveling to Iran, listen to me. Please cancel your trip,” he said.
Shargi pointed out that he traveled to Iran in 2018 to visit his family and was later arrested for false spying.
“I know this because that happened to me,” he said.
“Before I went to Iran, “This probably won’t happen to you. These things happened to people who did something wrong and said something to the Iranian regime,” Shargi said.
“I was wrong. Don’t make a mistake. For fellow Iranian Americans, your Iranian background will not protect you. It will make you an even bigger target for you to use you as a political pawn,” he said.
Shargi’s warnings came as part of a new campaign that doubled the long-standing warnings about trips to Iran. It comes after the conflict between Israel and Iran and the unprecedented US military strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities.
A State Department spokesperson said Tehran is not aware of its dual citizenship, but could target dual citizens in order to partner with the US. The travel advisory warns that “Iranian authorities will routinely delay consular access to detained US citizens” and that “Iranian authorities in particular will consistently deny consular access to the US and Iranian citizens.”
The United States has no diplomatic presence in Iran and relies on Swiss officials to identify Americans detained there.
“The risk of illegal detention, or the risk of acquiring a national hostage, may be even greater for Iranian Americans, including double citizens. They have been routinely taken away by the Iranian regime in the past and unfairly held, but have been held for years with false accusations of being sentenced to death and subjected to psychological torture.
For those who still choose to visit, the State Department has some tough advice: “Leave DNA samples” in case your loved ones need them and “draw a will.”