Inside Iran’s Evin Prison, journalist Reza Valizadeh pleads for medical help for herself and other American hostages.

In a a recorded call inside Iran’s Evin Prison, Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh he made a plea to the US government to get medical help for him and other Americans imprisoned in the infamous Tehran prison.

“Even if treating our diseases is a great need, it would not at least ask the Iranian authorities not to reduce all the physical pressure and mental torture we are subjected to in captivity, but at least some of it,” Valizadeh said in a recording recently obtained by CBS News.

Since the US and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran three months ago, the country has been under a total internet blackout, imposed by the regime, with little to no communication between the detained American and his lawyers. Valizadeh’s message came after the government relaxed those restrictions last week.

In the two-minute recording, Valizadeh referred to three other Americans who were also held in Evin prison. He said the four were suffering from “various diseases and were deprived of real medical services.” CBS News could not independently verify information about the three other Americans Valizadeh mentioned in the recording.

Valizadeh’s lawyer, Ryan Fayhee, told CBS News that since the fire caused by the airstrikes in Evin prison last June, Valizadeh has had trouble speaking without coughing. He also suffers from chronic back pain and dental problems.

“He survived the airstrike in the prison, he survived the prison itself, you know, the dignity of being caught. In terms of being a journalist, he doesn’t have much to lose here in reaching out and contacting me and asking me, directing me, in fact, as his lawyer, to share his words with the American public,” Fayhee told CBS News.

CBS News has learned that the State Department believes six Americans have been detained in Iran. Multiple sources familiar with the ongoing negotiations said none of the detained Americans will be released as part of the deal being negotiated between the US and Iran. The strategy is to first conclude a ceasefire and start nuclear talks and then deal with the hostage issue differently.

Sources told CBS News that the return of the Americans is a priority, but the decision was made to avoid involving them in a complex and tense deal that could collapse and put them in more danger. On the other hand, the risk of long-term unemployment remains.

A Trump administration official declined to answer a question about why the Americans were not released in the first place as a gesture of mercy and cited the sensitivity of ongoing negotiations.

Valizadeh began the recording by discussing his disappointment that the US had chosen to release the stranded Iranian sailors. a ship captured by the US military and sent them back to Iran last month. He may have been referring to the May 4 seizure of the motor ship Touska.

On May 4, a spokesperson for the US Central Command told CBS News that 22 crew members were taken from the ship, which had been caught trying to bypass the US blockade. They were transferred to Pakistan for extradition to Iran. At the time, Pakistan’s foreign minister called the return of the sailors a “confidence-building step” in the ongoing relationship they were trying to sell between the US and Iran.

“The US government would have wanted us to be replaced. However, it didn’t happen,” said Valizadeh. He then asked what concessions the US won if the Iranians were released and said that if those things “make America good again,” he fully respects the decision.

The State Department officially designated Valizadeh as “wrongfully detained” in May 2025, and filed his case under the US government’s office. However, Iran diplomacy is led by White House special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, not State Department officials.

Another American, Kamran Hekmati, has also been singled out by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as wrongfully imprisoned.

“I would like to hear Steve Witkoff or Jared Kushner or President Trump admit that the Iranians are holding American citizens, including journalists, and that those people, those people, are part of these broader negotiations,” Fayhee told CBS News.

“They have talked about everything else that is in the discussions, except for this thing, and I hope that they will start discussing with the public what steps they are taking to bring Reza back.”

Rubio testified before Congress on Wednesday that the US is considering a two-phase deal that would begin with an initial cessation of hostilities and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The second phase of the proposed deal would deal with Iran’s nuclear program and require detailed negotiations lasting anywhere from 30 to 90 days.

Why Valizadeh is in prison in Iran

Valizadeh became a US citizen in 2022 through his work for the US-funded broadcaster Radio Farda, the Persian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

According to messages passed from his family to his lawyer, Valizadeh believes he has been given assurances by Iranian authorities that it is safe for him to return to Tehran, where most of his family lives. When he returned, Valizadeh was no longer employed by Radio Farda. His brother said he now believes those assurances were part of a trap, possibly involving a former colleague with ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Persian-language media reports later cited sources who said Iran’s intelligence service hoped to pressure Valizadeh into cooperating with his former employer, Radio Farda, where he was reporting on corruption, protests and the influence of the IRGC. He refused.

Days later, IRGC agents detained him on a street in Tehran, confiscated his belongings, including his American passport, and took him to Evin prison, where he spent weeks in solitary confinement and was interrogated. Iranian officials did not publicly acknowledge his arrest for nearly two months.

Valizadeh was eventually charged with “collaborating with a hostile government,” a vague national security charge that Iranian authorities often use against journalists and activists.

Stephen Capus, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, told CBS News that Valizadeh’s colleagues “look forward to the day when Reza will be reunited with his loved ones and free again.”

“Reza has been severely separated from his family and friends for more than 20 months, separated by the violent and inhumane government of Iran,” he said in a statement. “We are grateful that the US government has declared that Reza was wrongfully detained.”