Thank you.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2019
BACKGROUND PRESS CALL
BY A SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL
ON THE RELEASE OF XIYUE WANG FROM IRAN
Via Telephone
10:04 A.M. EST
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Good morning. Thank you for joining this background briefing on the release of Xiyue Wang from Iran. This call is embargoed until its conclusion and is attributable, on background, to a senior administration official.
Today, we have [senior administration official]. [Senior administration official] will give brief remarks and then we will go into Q&A. Please make sure to direct any questions on other topics to us after this call. We’d like to keep today’s focus on Mr. Wang.
With that, I will turn it over to [senior administration official].
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thank you, this is [senior administration official], speaking to you from [redacted]. I’m out here for the [redacted]. It was a late night, early morning this morning, as we were tracking the events regarding Xiyue Wang and his return to the United States.
I can tell you that Xiyue is in route and may have landed already in Germany, where he’ll undergo some medical evaluations to ensure his health. But I have been told both by Xiyue, with whom I spoke last night — or early this morning — and those who were with him, that he appears to be in good health, and I can tell you he seems to be in very, very good humor and in good spirits. And so he’ll take a brief break in Germany, and then we expect him to return home soon.
As you know, he was held prisoner in Iran, unjustly and wrongly, for the past three years. Xiyue was a Princeton University student who had gone to Iran to study, and to study Persian literature. He’s been held there under the pretense of an espionage charge since August 2016. He was not a spy, he was not involved in espionage, and was wrongfully detained from the start.
I want to thank our Swiss partners for their assistance in negotiating Mr. Wang’s release. The Swiss, including their Ambassador on the ground, Markus Leitner, and other officials in the Swiss government in Bern, have worked tirelessly to obtain the release of Mr. Wang and of other Americans wrongly held in Switzerland for many, many years — or wrongfully held in Iran for many, many years.
In my prior work as a Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, I worked closely with the Swiss and we’re grateful for their efforts, both as our protecting power, providing consular services to Americans in Tehran, and for their efforts here.
The President remains committed to talks with Iran without preconditions, and we’ll continue to work very hard to bring home all of our American citizens wrongfully held captive overseas, including the Americans, as they continue to be held wrongfully in the Islamic Republic of Iran.