Released From Iranian Prison, U.S. Student Xiyue Wang Says He Was Held As A 'Hostage'

Until his release in December, American student Xiyue Wang spent more than three years behind bars in Iran — not because Iranian authorities hoped to glean any information from him, he says, but because they believed he would be useful in their negotiations with the U.S.
Wang, a U.S. citizen and graduate student at Princeton University, was released in a prisoner exchange between the two countries.