A U.S. citizen who has been held in Iran since 2024 has been released, President Donald Trump and her lawyer separately announced Wednesday evening.
“Iran has allowed an American Citizen, who was wrongfully detained in December of 2024 under the ‘presidency’ of Sleepy Joe Biden, to leave the Country. She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition. The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, without naming the person.
Trump, who described the release as a “gesture of Goodwill by Iran!” has ramped up pressure on Tehran in recent days and signed off on several new rounds of U.S. military strikes.
Mizan, the news site of the Iranian judiciary, said Thursday in a post on Telegram that no American citizen had been released from custody.
“No American prisoner has been released or exchanged from Iran’s prisons,” said the report on Mizan, and added, “As in previous instances of announcing false news, Trump, in addition to insulting his predecessor, also thanked Iran.”
Jared Genser, a human rights lawyer who has been involved with other high-profile cases of U.S. citizens detained in Iran, named the released citizen as Dena Karari, one of his clients.
“I am delighted and excited to report that my client U.S. citizen #DenaKarari, who had been trapped in #Iran since December 2024 on bogus charges is now free,” Genser said Wednesday on X. “This would not have happened but for the extraordinary and relentless efforts of President @realDonaldTrump. Dena is now safe and traveling back to the United States.”
A senior U.S. official also told NBC News on Thursday that Karari is out of Iran.
“We can confirm that Dena Karari is now safely outside of Iran,” the official said, and added, “We expect her to return home in the coming days.”
Genser said Wednesday in a news release providing additional details that Karari had been “subject to a coercive exit ban” but “never physically detained.” She was “interrogated dozens of times” by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry because of her work with a nonprofit organization called the Children of Mehr Foundation, he said.
The foundation “helped impoverished children in Iran with private donor support and authorization of an OFAC license,” Genser said in the release, referring to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
He also urged Iran to drop charges against Iranians who worked locally for the foundation.
As many as five other Americans are being held in Iran, including Reza Valizadeh and Kamran Hekmati who have both been publicly designated as wrongfully detained by the State Department.
