Sarah Hekmati and other relatives of four Americans currently held in Iran spoke to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday; the timing and venue are significant. As historian Michael Ledeen has written, hostage negotiations are at least one element of the nuclear talks coming to a close now in Switzerland.

No, John Kerry is not offering to trade more favorable concessions to Iran in exchange for promises to release Rezaian, Hekmati, Abedini or Levinson. But U.S. diplomats have raised their cases on the sidelines of these talks with Iranian officials. National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan told me Tuesday: “The only other issue Secretary Kerry and Under Secretary Sherman discuss every time they meet with their Iranian counterparts, other than the nuclear negotiations, are the cases of these four Americans.” 

The families of the victims also say that the increased U.S. engagement with Iran has also given them hope that maybe their loved ones will be released in the coming weeks as the June 30 deadline for the talks approaches.

Several lawmakers at Tuesday’s hearing said they would not support a nuclear deal with Iran if Americans were still detained.