TOKYO — Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Sunday that one of two Japanese nationals detained in Iran has been released and will be returning to Japan.
Motegi, speaking on a Fuji Television talk show, said the person had been detained since last year and was released Wednesday.
He said another Japanese national, who was arrested this year, is still in custody.
Motegi said that the release came after his repeated demands to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and that he is “working to win an early release” of the other detainee while communicating with his family and other concerned parties.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has named the person detained in Iran in January as a journalist at Japan’s public broadcaster NHK. The CPJ said the NHK journalist was arrested Jan. 20 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was transferred Feb. 23 to Evin Prison, quoting unidentified sources citing fear of persecution.
Motegi did not identify either of the people detained and said the released Japanese national was detained in 2025.
The Foreign Ministry said this month the detainees were safe and in good health, but acknowledged only that one was detained last year and the other in January.
The ministry gave no further details such as whether the two cases were related.
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