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Wheaton Central friends welcome return of Iranian hostage

When Iran released five hostages, two former Wheaton high school students were particularly happy and relieved about one of the freed captives, Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian.

Brian Stetler and Matt Brandseth went to school with Rezaian at Wheaton Central for freshman and sophomore year, before Rezaian moved to the San Francisco area to live with his family.

Brandseth, who lives in Naperville, said he heard the news about Rezeaian Saturday morning, when he saw accounts on the Internet.

"Initially, it was tentative excitement, because with all the press I had read in the past year and a half, there was a lot of false stories and stuff like that, plus nothing seemed to be fully confirmed," he said. "So I just didn't want to get my hopes up, if it was not correct."

He said he contacted a family friend via email and later began to get snippets of information from Rezaian's brother in Iran.

Brandseth said information had been trickling in since Rezaian was taken prisoner as an accused spy.

"I'm just a guy from Naperville. But reading everything that I had read and the timing of everything, it had become pretty clear that Jason was just a bargaining chip for the Iran nuclear deal," Brandseth said. "And I would argue that the timing and the method by which he was released sort of lends credence to that and that he really didn't do anything wrong."

When the evidence was produced, he said, "It was so incredibly flimsy. He was just wrapped up in big world politics and, unfortunately, he was the victim of it."

Stetler, who lives in Chicago, said he was overjoyed, although he was initially surprised at the news of the return of his friend, who was held for more than 500 days.

"I knew this was going to happen eventually. I really did have faith," Stetler said. "But immediately I was in disbelief, and now I'm just so happy for my friend and very happy that he will be able to be reunited with his family very soon."

He said the last time he saw Rezaian was about 2010, when he visited with him and Brandseth in the Chicago suburbs.

Stetler said he asked whether Rezaian ever worried about his safety, but he said Rezaian downplayed any concerns - he was just excited to be a journalist for The Washington Post.

Stetler said Rezaian brought a new perspective to reporting about Iran, adding a sprinkling of humor, including writing about introducing Tehran to guacamole, because, Stetler said, "There was no good Mexican food in Iran."

An ardent Oakland A's fan - Rezaian settled in the Bay area after moving from Wheaton - he enjoyed writing about the spread of baseball in Iran.

Stetler described Rezaian, whose father was Iranian but whose mother grew up in Warrenville, as being "as American as apple pie."

But he said Rezaian wanted to show the normal people of Iran - "so friendly, so nice, so progressive. He was trying to kind of bring those two worlds together."

Brandseth said "the last story Jason wrote was about how Iranians were getting into baseball, and so he was sort of on a mission to strip away some of those misconceptions.

"We sat around my dining room table and talked about it for a good hour, and he actually pitched me to come visit him in Iran. He's like, 'You'll love it and they'll love you.' And I was sold."

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