Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) on Tuesday urged the administration to work to free one of his constituents, Kamran Hekmati, from prison in Iran. Hekmati, who is Jewish and a U.S. citizen, has been held by the regime for nearly a year for visiting Israel for his son’s bar mitzvah more than a dozen years ago.

This week, the administration formally designated Hekmati as “wrongfully detained,” following an appeal from Suozzi and other lawmakers, a move the congressman praised.

“This is a positive step forward in what has been a very painful case,” Suozzi told Jewish Insider. “It’s really important that we keep on pushing that in any negotiations the administration has with Iran, that Mr. Hekmati be part of those negotiations.”

Suozzi said that being caught in the middle of the war “must be terrifying for him and for his family,” and that he’s concerned the Iranian regime may seek to use Hekmati as a “negotiating chip” in the ongoing conflict.

“We have to recognize that this is a very serious issue that he’s being punished for being an American and for being a Jewish American,” Suozzi said. “We just need more Americans to know that this is going on.”

He said that the administration’s designation of Hekmati as wrongfully detained is an “important step forward,” adding that he hoped it would deliver “a very clear message” that Hekmati’s freedom must be a U.S. priority.

On the conflict in Iran more broadly, Suozzi is walking a delicate line as one of the most moderate and hawkish Democrats in the House. He voted for a war powers resolution earlier this month that would have cut short U.S. operations in Iran. 

He said he has long felt that Iran is a bad actor and must be stopped. But he said that the briefing he received from the administration prior to the vote gave him pause.

“I was like, ‘OK, what’s the plan? What’s phase two?’ And then the whole thing with the Strait of Hormuz — it seems like it’s a pretty obvious issue,” Souzzi said, referring to the critical waterway that has been largely impassable and greatly impacted global oil shipping. “If you were thinking of this in any detail you would have known that this was going to be a major issue, and there’s a reason that we haven’t attacked for 47 years.”

“I’m emotionally very invested in the idea of stopping the bad guys in Iran, I want the administration to work with Congress to give us a plan,” Suozzi continued.

Despite his vote for the war powers resolution, Suozzi said that an immediate withdrawal would leave “everybody vulnerable and exposed.”

“We obviously can’t do that. … There has to be a plan, with the help of all the great minds that do exist, not only in the administration, but in the Congress and the larger community,” Suozzi said. “That’s why we have debate. That’s why we have democracy. That’s why we have the system we have.”

Suozzi is a sponsor of an alternative war powers resolution likely to come up for a vote this month that would set a 30-day time limit on the war, with the goal of providing sufficient time to responsibly and carefully wind down U.S. operations against Iran.

The Long Island congressman also said that “one of the most frustrating things” about the current U.S. effort is the lack of involvement from Gulf and European allies. arguing that the administration should have done outreach to those partners before attacking to bring them into the campaign.