The chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said the United States has no right to interfere in Iran's internal issues and legal procedures, advising US politicians to learn from their past mistakes.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi made the remarks in an interview with ICANA on Friday, referring to calls by US officials for the release of Jason Rezaian.
"The laws of the Islamic Republic are the same for all citizens," he said, adding that regardless of their nationalities, anyone who commits a crime in Iran will be investigated by the judiciary based on domestic regulations.
Rezaian, 39, Iranian-American Washington Post correspondent in Tehran, is facing charges of "espionage, collaboration with hostile governments, gathering classified information and disseminating propaganda against the Islamic Republic," according to his lawyer Leila Ahsan.
Rezaian, reportedly together with his wife Yeganeh Salehi and a female press photographer, appeared before the Branch 15 of Iran's Islamic Revolution Court on May 26.
US Secretary of State John Kerry had asked Tehran last August to release three American citizens detained in Iran. "The United States respectfully calls on the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to release Amir Hekmati, Saeed Abedini, and Jason Rezaian to their families …," Kerry said in a statement.
According to an April Guardian article, Kerry once again raised concerns over Iran's detention of the Washington Post journalist during talks with his counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif before the early April historic agreement over the Tehran's nuclear program.
"As we do every time we meet, we will continue to call on Iran to immediately release detained US citizens Jason Rezaian, Amir Hekmati and Saeed Abedini so that all can be returned to their families as soon as possible," the Guardian quoted a State Department spokesman as saying.
