At its biennial meeting on Sunday, June 3, 2007, the AHA Council endorsed endorsed the recent letter from the Middle East Studies Association on the detention of scholars in Iran, and issued the following statement:

We, the members of the Council of the American Historical Association, write to express our support for the recent statements issued by the Middle East Studies Association protesting the arrests and detention of Dr. Haleh Esfandiari and Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh. As Council members of an organization dedicated to academic freedom and free scholarly exchange, we are deeply disturbed by the Iranian government's actions in this matter and join our colleagues in MESA in calling for the immediate release of Dr. Esfandiari and Dr. Tajbakhsh.