John Coale is exactly who we need to bring home our Americans

John Coale is President Trump’s new nominee for Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs — and he is exactly the master dealmaker the job demands. With innocent Americans still languishing in prison cells in Iran, Russia, China and Afghanistan, the Senate must confirm him without delay. Lives are hanging in the balance, and Coale has already proven he knows how to break the diplomatic gridlock.

Coale masterminded the deal that used sanction relief and economic incentives to secure the release of hundreds of prisoners , including numerous American and allied citizens, from Belarus. Using such tools to free American hostages and wrongful detainees is not new, yet American diplomats, paralyzed by the lack of moral equivalence in hostage negotiations, hesitate to dip into that toolbox. Deals that could — and should — be made to bring Americans home are left on the table, forcing wrongful detainees to suffer in foreign cells far longer than they should. The irony of it all is that the deals never get better. We ultimately end up using these exact same tools — trades, sanction relief or economic incentives — to secure their release anyway.

I understand this better than anyone. My brother, an American citizen, was wrongfully detained in Iran in 2018. By 2021, a potential deal was on the table to secure his freedom and that of four other Americans through a prisoner trade and a transfer of frozen funds under strict financial oversight. It was the exact same framework that ultimately brought him home in 2023 . Same deal, but with two more painful years needlessly lost behind the walls of the notorious Evin prison.

This is why the selection of John Coale, a lawyer who has viewed negotiations as a win-loss concept, is appropriate. Bound by fiduciary duty, his only focus is serving his client. In this case, that client is Trump. With innocent American lives at stake, his responsibility aligns with a cause Trump is deeply committed to protecting.

If his deal with Belarus to secure the release of hundreds of detainees is any indication, Coale will approach his role as envoy with a zero-sum mentality. We can either be pollyannish about hostage negotiations and let innocent Americans wither and die in foreign jail cells, or we can use all available tools, like Coale has shown us he is willing to, to bring them home. Ultimately, the empty prison cells in Minsk prove that transactional realism works.

By prioritizing results over rigid ideology, Coale has laid down a new blueprint for American statecraft — one that remembers the state’s most fundamental duty is to bring its people back home.

Neda Sharghi is the sister of Emad Shargi, an American citizen who was wrongfully detained in Iran from 2018 to 2023. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for American hostages and wrongful detainees.