What Lies Ahead For Convicted Journalist Roxana Saberi?

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In The Media

What Lies Ahead For Convicted Journalist Roxana Saberi?

Following a one-day trial in Tehran on charges of spying, journalist Roxana Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison by an Iranian court, a decision motivated by tensions between Iran's hard-liners and the United States.

By Karim Sadjadpour

Published on Apr 20, 2009

Source: NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday

Following a one-day trial in Tehran on charges of spying, journalist Roxana Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison by an Iranian court. Karim Sadjadpour discusses with NPR's Scott Simon the larger issues surrounding the Saberi case, and its implications for U.S.-Iranian relations.

He explains that the journalist has unfortunately been "caught up in a broader contentious relationship between the United States and Iran. Whereas the Obama administration has reached a consensus that it is time to engage Iran to try to forge a new relationship with Tehran, I think within Tehran, they are very conflicted. You have hard-liners who do not represent the majority of the population or even the political elite, who stand to lose big time if there is a U.S.-Iran rapprochement. And over the last thirty years, we have seen that whenever there has been hope of confidence building, or talks, or an improvement in the relationship, they do something to try to torpedo or sabotage the dialogue. And I would put Roxana's case unfortunately in that context."

About the Author

Karim Sadjadpour

Senior Fellow, Middle East Program

Karim Sadjadpour is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on Iran and U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East.

Recent Work

Q&A
What’s Keeping the Iranian Regime in Power—for Now
- Aaron David Miller, Karim Sadjadpour, Robin Wright
Q&A
How Washington and Tehran Are Assessing Their Next Steps
- Aaron David Miller, David Petraeus, Karim Sadjadpour

Foreign Policy North America United States Middle East Iran

Carnegie India does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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