Japanese national detained in Iran last year has been released, Japan's foreign minister says

FILE -Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi delivers a speech during the special Diet session, Feb. 20, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

TOKYO — Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Sunday that one of two Japanese nationals detained in Iran has been released and is headed home.

Motegi, speaking on a Fuji Television talk show, said the person had been detained since last year and was released on Wednesday. He said the person took a flight from Azerbaijan which was scheduled to arrive in Japan on Sunday.

Kyodo News agency and other Japanese media said the former detainee later returned to Japan.

Motegi said another Japanese national who was arrested earlier this year is still in custody.

Motegi said 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 but said the released Japanese national was detained in 2025.

The Foreign Ministry said earlier this month the detainees were safe and in good health, but only acknowledged that one was detained last year and the other one in January.

The ministry gave no further details and did not say whether the two cases were related.

Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press