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US House Resolution Urges Iran to Free Detained Americans


FILE - Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American correspondent for The Washington Post, and his wife Yeganeh Salehi, an Iranian correspondent for Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National, attend a presidential campaign of President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, April 11, 2013.
FILE - Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American correspondent for The Washington Post, and his wife Yeganeh Salehi, an Iranian correspondent for Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National, attend a presidential campaign of President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, April 11, 2013.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a resolution calling for Iran to release three American citizens being held in custody.

The non-binding resolution, which passed late Monday by a vote of 391-0, urged Tehran to free Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, Pastor Saeed Abedini and Amir Hekmati.

Rezaian was arrested last year and is on trial on charges of spying. Abedini has been detained since 2012 for leading Christian worship services. Hekmati, a retired U.S. Marine who was arrested in 2011 while visiting his grandmother, was tried and sentenced to death on espionage charges. His sentence has since been reduced to 10 years.

The resolution also calls for Iran to provide information on former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007.

Congressional lawmakers are pushing Iran to release the Americans as the June 30 deadline approaches for Iran to reach a deal with the United States and five other nations over the Islamic regime's nuclear program.

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