The White House has stated that they may veto a proposed amendment that would require Pastor Saeed Abedini and three other Americans held captive in Iran be released as part of any Iranian nuclear deal.

“That is simply unbelievable. Refusing to discuss the Americans being held hostage by Iran at the bargaining table and rejecting any congressional attempt to make any deal with Iran contingent on the release of the Americans is unacceptable. It’s quite frankly appalling,” the American Center for Law and Justice wrote in an update on Thursday.”

Naghmeh Abedini, Saeed’s wife, continues  to advocate for her husband’s release said,

“Our government must not forget that Saeed is not being held by the reformists with whom they negotiate, but by radical hardliners who oppose what he represents – a Christian convert and a U.S. citizen,” she said.  “We cannot leave my husband’s fate in the hands of these radicals. I implore our government to remember the urgency of bringing Saeed home to our family.”

The release was a response to a statement by White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

“Our first priority is to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. “

“The President would certainly veto any amendment or any bill with an amendment that undermined the unanimous compromise that was reached in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or that interfered with the ongoing negotiations,” Earnest said.

“Certainly a provision, an amendment, that made this nuclear deal contingent on Iran’s release of those three American citizens would fall, I think frankly, into both categories.”