Fresh developments in the long-running disappearance of American journalist Austin Tice suggest he may still be alive, with new information indicating a possible transfer from Syria to Iran, according to recent statements from his family.
Tice, whose work had been featured in The Washington Post and McClatchy newspapers, among other publications, was reporting on the Syrian civil war on Aug. 14, 2012, when he disappeared from a checkpoint west of Damascus. A video released shortly afterward showed him being held by armed men.
For years, the prevailing assumption among U.S. officials and his relatives has been that he was held in Syria. However, the latest reports introduce a new and potentially significant shift in the narrative.
Naomi Tice, one of his sisters, said the family has received information suggesting he may be in the hands of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). According to her, he could have been moved from Syria to Iran either during or after the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime in late 2024.
“Assad consistently said that he did not have Austin, and he has really held strong on that message,” she said. “We also know that Iran manages some of the detention facilities in Syria. That technicality could be one of the reasons why Assad said that he didn’t have him, because Iran was technically in control of them at the time.”
