Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian American conservationist, described his nearly six-year imprisonment in Iran's Evin Prison as a "hellish" experience, revealing the harsh conditions within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence detention facility. He was released in September 2023 as part of a Qatar-mediated agreement that freed five Americans in exchange for five Iranians and $6 billion in frozen funds. Now back in the U.S., Tahbaz fears that escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran could make American citizens still detained in Tehran more vulnerable and valuable as bargaining chips.
Tahbaz was arrested in January 2018 while working as a conservationist, co-founding the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation. Authorities accused him of training lizards to spy on Iranian military installations for Israel, an allegation he dismissed as absurd. His initial interrogations led to nearly six years of imprisonment, with the most difficult period spent in solitary confinement for four months under a constant light.
During his detention in Ward 2A of Evin Prison, Tahbaz was allowed out of his cell only twice a day for brief periods and was forced to wear a blindfold. His monitored calls with his wife were strictly controlled, with officials interrupting any conversation in English. He described the facility as the "harshest and toughest imprisonment" a prisoner could endure. After his conviction, he was transferred to the general prison population, where cellmates included alleged ISIS members and former Iranian government ministers.
Tahbaz believes that Western governments have failed to establish sufficient consequences to deter Iran's ongoing practice of taking dual and foreign nationals hostage. "This business of hostage-taking has been going on essentially since the beginning of the revolution," he stated. "It will continue, in my opinion, as long as there is no deterrence. None of the Western governments, in reality, have done anything significant about stopping this practice."
He noted that Iran does not recognize foreign citizenship, allowing authorities to build national security cases and use detainees as leverage in negotiations. "You’re condemned and they pass sentence and you’re in the system, and now you are a bargaining chip," Tahbaz explained.
The number of Americans currently detained or prevented from leaving Iran is not precisely known, but reports indicate at least six U.S. citizens or permanent residents have been held. Tahbaz believes three Americans remain in custody. He expressed concern that the ongoing conflict could similarly be used to exert pressure on these individuals.
"When I was taken in in January of 2018, and it was right at the beginning of the first Trump administration, the amount of frustration and anger at the rollback of the JCPOA at that time, I mean, it was thrown into my face just about every day of my interrogation in some way, shape or form," Tahbaz recalled, referencing the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. He anticipates that current geopolitical tensions will similarly impact the treatment and circumstances of prisoners.
Tahbaz also offered personal assessments of internal power dynamics within Iran's Revolutionary Guard, suggesting that sanctions have benefited certain IRGC-linked entities by creating opaque black and gray markets for oil sales and financial transactions. He argued that these groups have a vested interest in maintaining sanctions to preserve their political and economic power, while ordinary Iranians suffer the most from economic isolation.
Tahbaz's experience is detailed in his upcoming memoir, "Green Parrots: A Memoir of Survival in Iran’s Evin Prison," scheduled for release on September 29. His account highlights the precarious situation of detained Americans, who could become more valuable to Tehran amid escalating conflict, even as their circumstances grow more perilous.