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Trial of US Reporter Resumes in Iran


File - Jason Rezaian (R), an Iranian-American correspondent for The Washington Post, and his wife Yeganeh Salehi, an Iranian correspondent for the Abu Dhabi-based The National, attend a presidential campaign of President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, Iran.
File - Jason Rezaian (R), an Iranian-American correspondent for The Washington Post, and his wife Yeganeh Salehi, an Iranian correspondent for the Abu Dhabi-based The National, attend a presidential campaign of President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, Iran.

The espionage trial in Tehran of detained Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian resumed Monday for a third closed-door session, Iran's official media reported.

The first two sessions of his trial were held in May and June.

The 39-year-old Rezaian is being tried in Tehran's Revolutionary Court on charges of collecting confidential information and handing it to hostile governments, writing a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama and acting against national security. Rezaian has denied the allegations.

Rezaian and his Iranian wife, Yeganeh Salehi, also a journalist, were arrested in July 2014 after Iranian security forces raided their home in Tehran. Salehi has since been released and is facing a separate trial, but Rezaian, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, has remained in jail for nearly a year.

At his first hearing, Iranian media said the court read a letter that Rezaian allegedly wrote to Obama's transition team in 2008 offering to help with efforts to improve relations between the two countries.

Martin Baron, an executive editor with The Washington Post, said Rezaian filled out an application for the Obama administration after the 2008 election, but he was never hired.

Rezaian was born and has spent most of his life in the United States. Iran does not recognize other nationalities for its citizens.

The United States has called for Rezaian's release.

The hearing comes as Tehran and six world powers, including the U.S., are trying to meet a deadline for a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear program. Iran said its program is for peaceful purposes.

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