- An American-born Iranian television anchor has been arrested as a material witness in an undisclosed U.S. federal investigation, according to a federal court order granted on Friday.
At the request of the Justice Department, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell issued the order, the first official U.S. confirmation of reports of the arrest of Marzieh Hashemi, an anchor for Iran's English-language Press TV news channel.
The order, which approved the partial unsealing of information in the case, said Hashemi was arrested on a material witness warrant issued by a federal judge and that she was assigned an attorney but "has not been accused of any crime."
Hashemi has made two court appearances, and the U.S. government expects her immediate release after she finishes testifying before a federal grand jury investigating violations of U.S. criminal law, the order continued.
It did not disclose further details of the case, which has added to tensions between the Iranian and U.S. governments over the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, the reimposition of harsh U.S. sanctions, and the detention of Iranian-American dual nationals by Iran.
Iran has called for the immediate release of Hashemi, who state-run Press TV said was arrested on Sunday by the FBI at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
The FBI and the Justice Department declined to confirm her arrest or comment on the case.
A U.S. government source told Reuters it appeared that the grand jury was examining whether Press TV is a propaganda outlet that failed to register with the Justice Department as an agent of a foreign government.
Press TV said on Wednesday that Hashemi was born Melanie Franklin in the United States and changed her name after converting to Islam.
Historical contacts between leaders of China and U.S
Since the establishment of diplomatic ties on January 1, 1979, the China-U.S. relationship has been moving forward steadily despite some twists and turns. In January 1979, then Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping visited the U.S., opening a new page in China-U.S. relations. Among the U.S. presidents who have traveled to China, George W. Bush, the son of George W.H. Bush and the 43rd U.S. president, visited China the most. In recent years, high-level exchanges of visits have been frequent between the two countries. Jiang Zemin and George W. Bush are at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shanghai, October 2001. /Photo from china-embassy.org In November 2009, then U.S. President Barack Obama paid a state visit to China, while Chinese President Hu Jintao reciprocated the gesture in a state visit to the U.S. in 2011. Both sides issued joint statements during the visits. They also made the strategic decision to work together to build a China-U.S. cooperative partnersh
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