Iran released a U.S.-Iranian dual national stranded in Iran since December 2024, President Trump has announced.
Dena Karari was in Iran on “bogus charges of collaboration with a hostile state and espionage,” said international human rights lawyer Jared Genser, who represents her.
Mr. Trump announced the news on Truth Social, saying the American had been “wrongfully detained,” without identifying her.
“She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition. The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran!” he wrote.
Iranian state-run media said that no American citizen had been released from custody.
“As in previous instances of announcing false news, Trump, in addition to insulting his predecessor, also thanked Iran,” it said.
According to Mr. Genser, Ms. Karari had not been held in prison or physically detained in Iran, but was trapped in Iran on a “coercive exit ban.”
Ms. Karari ran a nonprofit called the Children of Mehr Foundation, which aided impoverished children in Iran under an Office of Foreign Assets Control license issued by the U.S. Treasury.
“She was interrogated dozens of times by Iran’s notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security,” Mr. Genser said, adding that his client “suffered enormous physical and psychological hardship.”
There are presently at least three other American citizens detained in Iran — one woman and two men, according to Hostage Aid Worldwide, a nonprofit organization founded by former hostages to assist families to stay in touch with current detainees’ relatives.
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