Iran’s regime weaponizes antisemitism again, jailing an innocent Jew while exploiting war to target Israel.
The Iranian-Jewish community in the United States is intensifying its campaign to secure the release of Kamran Hekmati, the last remaining Jew held in an Iranian prison, Channel 2’s This Morning reported Sunday. Hekmati, a 70-year-old Iranian-American from New York, has become a symbol of the Iranian regime’s escalating antisemitism throughout and after last June’s Israel–Iran war.
During the conflict, Iranian security services rounded up dozens of Iranian Jews, accusing them of “collaborating with Israel”—a routine charge the regime deploys whenever it seeks to intimidate its dwindling Jewish minority. All detainees were eventually freed, except Hekmati.
According to journalist Roy Case, Hekmati had flown to Iran last May to visit his family. When he attempted to leave the country after July’s fighting, Iranian authorities arrested him at the airport, alleging he had “ties to Israel”—even though he last visited Israel 13 years ago.
Unlike the other Jewish detainees, who were released without charges, Hekmati was handed a multi-year prison sentence—a move widely seen as Tehran’s attempt to manufacture leverage and project hostility toward Israel and Jews abroad.
The Iranian-Jewish community in America is now mobilizing political, diplomatic, and legal channels to secure his release. Community leaders say Hekmati’s continued imprisonment reflects Tehran’s broader strategy: targeting Jews as a proxy for its hatred of Israel and using innocent civilians as bargaining chips.
Advocacy groups warn that Hekmati’s age and health make his situation especially urgent, and are calling on the US government and international partners to pressure Iran for his immediate release.
