Iran Deal Leaves out Imprisoned Pastor Saeed

Supporters hail the recent Iran deal as a diplomatic success story but critics – including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – are calling the deal a “mistake.”

“I spoke last night with President Obama. We agreed that in the coming days an Israeli team led by the national security adviser, Yossi Cohen, will go out to discuss with the United States the permanent accord with Iran,” the Israeli prime minister said.

“This accord must bring about one outcome: the dismantling of Iran's military nuclear capability,” he added.

Meanwhile the wife of imprisoned pastor Abedini Saeed has expressed anguish that the deal has entirely left out the case of her imprisoned husband, an American citizen.

“It's very painful," she told CNN on Monday. “My kids were crying this morning, saying, ‘God, don't let Daddy die. Bring him home.’”

For Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), now representing Saeed’s family in the United States, the fact that Saeed’s case wasn’t even mentioned is shocking.

“We were across the table from the Iranians, and we did not bring home Americans,” he said on Tuesday. “To me that's a tragedy and that's outrageous.”