Given the current corner the administration has painted themselves in to…. This little non-reported side story around Iran holds all the customary predicative elements of Team Obama constructing a White House photo-op. Watch carefully and let’s see if Abedini is released in the next two weeks for all the reasons one would expect….
(Via WFB) President Barack Obama will meet with the family of a U.S. pastor imprisoned in Iran on Wednesday in Boise, Idaho, an administration official has confirmed.
Obama will visit with Naghmeh Abedini, the wife of Saeed Abedini, along with their two children as he travels to Boise to discuss proposals from his State of the Union address.
Iranian authorities initially detained Abedini in September 2012. He was later sentenced to eight years in prison on charges related to his Christian faith.
Naghmeh Abedini said in a statement that she had repeatedly attempted to either meet with the president or talk with him on the phone for the last two years.
“I was overjoyed when I heard that President Obama wanted to meet with the kids and I during his short visit here in Boise,” she said. “I have tried over the last two years to meet with the president or even get a phone call from him without success. It is truly an answer to prayer that he is coming to Boise and it is a miracle that he is meeting with us. I see God’s Hand in arranging this crucial meeting.”
Bernadette Meehan, a National Security Council spokeswoman, confirmed that Obama would meet with the Abedini family but declined to comment on what they would discuss.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has refused to rule out the possibility that a deal could be struck with Iran on its nuclear program while American citizens remain imprisoned in the country—describing the two issues as “separate tracks.”
Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly raised Abedini’s case with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the sidelines of nuclear negotiations last week in Geneva. (read more)