Former U.S. hostage in Iran was told to find his own way home - THE BULL ELEPHANT Catharine Trauernicht

Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini

Former U.S. hostage in Iran was told to find his own way home

• November 1, 2016
• THE BULL ELEPHANT Guest Contributor Catharine Trauernicht

The U.S government didn't help him. But Donald Trump and Franklin Graham did. Now, Saeed Abedini is returning the favor.

For three and a half years, Pastor Saeed Abedini was imprisoned in an Iranian jail before being released last January, in what some people believe was a hostage exchange for ransom money.


An Iranian-American and Muslim convert to Christianity, Pastor Abedini was imprisoned for his Christian faith and charged with subversion. His torture and suffering while in jail were known around the world, and an untold number of prayers were answered when news came of his release.

Saeed Abedini was one of three American hostages freed by Iran last January, only after a planeload of cash — $400 million in cash — landed close by on the tarmac where they were waiting to fly out of Iran.

When the freed men arrived in Germany, Saeed Abedini was told he would have to buy his own plane ticket back to the United States, despite the financial distress to his family after his imprisonment.

Think about that for a moment. Only a few hours earlier, the United States had transferred $400 million in cash to the Iranian government, but would not pay for Abedini to get home to his family…after three and a half years of tortured imprisonment!

It was Franklin Graham who arranged for a flight to take Pastor Abedini home, and it was Franklin Graham, along with Abedini’s parents, who greeted him when he arrived in the United States.


“They didn’t even intend on helping me get home. Without the kindness of friends like the Rev. Franklin Graham, I would have been stranded in Germany. In spite of all I had experienced, I felt completely dispensable.”

Another man stepped forward to help Pastor Abedini’s family during his imprisonment. Donald Trump met with his family and gave them $10,000. In a recent Facebook posting, Abedini spoke of his gratitude for Trump’s support:


I know [he] fought for me and called my name so many times. Hillary never called my name or met my family. She never did anything to help when I was in prison as an American pastor who was detained in Iran as a hostage.”

In another Facebook posting, Abedini expressed his belief that God is working through Donald Trump to accomplish His purposes. He wrote that, like each one of us, Donald Trump is “a flawed man, in the process of spiritual growth. … We are a nation, a people who are also sinners, saved by grace. Redemption is God’s specialty.”

Pastor Abedini is trusting Donald Trump to lead our country. He also is trusting God “to finish and equip for the future what He has already started.”