Ali Shakeri Update: U.S. Confirms Missing Irvine Man Imprisoned by Iran

From the Los Angeles Times online comes the following update on the arrest and imprisonment of Iranian-American Ali Shakeri the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Regime:

The United States confirmed that a missing Irvine peace activist has become the fourth Iranian American detained by Iran on suspicion of espionage, and warned U.S. citizens against traveling to the country.

"American citizens may be subject to harassment or arrest while traveling or residing in Iran," the State Department said after confirming that Ali Shakeri, who has been missing in Iran for more than two weeks, is being held at the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.

"As with the other cases, this is simply ridiculous," said deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey. "He has no standing with the U.S. government; he is not a U.S. government official; he is not operating or acting on behalf of the U.S. government. He is a private citizen."

As diplomatic pressure builds on Iran to stop its nuclear weapons development program, including increasingly successful financial divestiture campaigns, the mullahs are reacting typically, by taking hostages.

See our original post on this story here.

Michael Ledeen wrote about the emerging new Iranian hostage crisis yesterday, at NRO. [HT: Powerline.]