Iraqi official admits hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov may have been sent to Iran

Tsurkov, a Middle East researcher at Princeton University, was kidnapped in 2023 while traveling to Iraq on her Russian passport to conduct research for her doctoral dissertation.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Talks are reportedly underway regarding the release of Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, but an Iraqi official admits that her exact location is uncertain, and she may have been transferred to Iran, according to Ynet.

Tsurkov, a Middle East researcher at Princeton University, was kidnapped in 2023 while traveling to Iraq on her Russian passport to conduct research for her doctoral dissertation. She was taken in Baghdad by Kata’ib Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian Iraqi terrorist group.

The official reported that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani “does not know where Tsurkov is being held,” adding, “It’s a stroke of luck she’s still alive. Usually, captives don’t survive interrogations.”

Two Trump administration officials, hostage envoy Adam Boehler and Rep. Mike Waltz, are negotiating for Tsurkov’s release.

Boehler told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya that the Trump administration is pressuring Iraq’s PM, who “continues to claim he doesn’t know where Tsurkov is being held.”

Emma Tsurkov, Elizabeth’s sister, shared in an interview with Ynet, “I’ve spoken directly with Adam Boehler several times and met his team. The updates are encouraging. It’s amazing that in just a few weeks of determined effort, they’ve made more progress than in the last two years. I really hope this pressure from the Americans works soon so I can hug my sister again.”

She added, “They’re very careful not to give me false hope, but in all my conversations with Adam Boehler, he’s been incredibly kind and patient. I don’t know how he finds the strength to speak with hostage families with such empathy.”

She also shared, “He told me the same thing Steve Witkoff had said when I met him in Washington a week and a half ago — that they are working on this, that my sister is important to them, and that it’s unacceptable for a Princeton student to be held captive in a country allied with the U.S.”

Elizabeth TsurkovhostageIranIraq