DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – An Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a U.S. government-funded broadcaster is believed to have been held by Iran for months, authorities said Sunday. This further raises the stakes as Tehran threatens retaliation over an Israeli attack on the country.

The detention of Reza Valizadeh, which the U.S. State Department confirmed to The Associated Press, came as Iran marked the 45th anniversary of the American embassy takeover and hostage crisis on Sunday. It also followed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatening both Israel and the US with a “devastating response” the day before as long-range B-52 bombers reached the Middle East to deter Tehran.

Valizadeh had worked for Radio Farda, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty station overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. In February, he wrote on the social platform X that his family members had been arrested in an attempt to secure his return to Iran.

In August, Valizadeh apparently posted two messages suggesting he had returned to Iran, despite Radio Farda being viewed as a hostile outlet by the Iranian theocracy.

“I arrived in Tehran on March 6, 2024. Before that, I had unfinished negotiations with the intelligence department (the Revolutionary Guard),” the message reads in part. “Finally, after 13 years, I returned to my country without any guarantee of security, not even a verbal one.”

Valizadeh added the name of a man he claimed was part of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. The AP was unable to verify whether the person worked for the department.

Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Valizadeh had been arrested. The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which monitors cases in Iran, said he was detained upon his arrival in the country earlier this year but was later released.

He was then re-arrested and taken to Evin Prison, where he is now being tried by Iran’s Revolutionary Court, which routinely holds closed-door hearings in which defendants are confronted with secret evidence, the agency reported. Valizadeh was also threatened with arrest in 2007, it was said.

When asked about Valizadeh, the State Department told the AP that it was “aware of reports that this dual American-Iranian citizen has been arrested in Iran.”

“We are working with our Swiss partners, who serve as the protecting force of the United States in Iran, to gather further information about this case,” the State Department said. “Iran routinely wrongfully imprisons U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries for political reasons. This practice is cruel and contrary to international law.”

Iran has not recognized Valizadeh’s detention. The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Voice of America, another U.S. government-funded media outlet overseen by the Agency for Global Media, initially reported that the State Department recognized Valizadeh’s detention in Iran.

Since the 1979 U.S. Embassy crisis, in which dozens of hostages were released after 444 days of captivity, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations with the world. In September 2023, five Americans held in Iran for years were released. In exchange, five Iranians in U.S. custody and $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets were released to South Korea.

Valizadeh has since become the first American known to have been detained by Iran.

Meanwhile, Iranian state television broadcast footage from various cities across the country on Sunday marking the anniversary of the embassy takeover.

Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard, also spoke in Tehran, where he reiterated a promise made by Khamenei the day before.

“The Resistance Front and Iran will equip themselves with everything necessary to confront and defeat the enemy,” he said, referring to Tehran-backed militant groups such as Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

In Tehran, thousands chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” at the gate of the former US embassy. Some burned flags of countries and effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

They also carried pictures of slain top figures of Iran-aligned militant groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Palestinian Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Crowds at the state-organized rallies chanted that they were ready to defend the Palestinians.

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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.