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Iran Releases U.S. Citizen Dena Karari After Detention
Confirmed
In Short: U.S. President Donald Trump announced the release of Dena Karari, an American citizen held in Iran since December 2024, as a gesture of goodwill.
A U.S. citizen detained in Iran since December 2024 has been released, according to President Donald Trump and her lawyer, Jared Genser. Trump described the release as a 'gesture of goodwill by Iran!
Genser, Karari's lawyer, reported that she was 'interrogated dozens of times' by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry for her work with the Children of Mehr Foundation, a nonprofit that helped impoverished children in Iran.
Karari, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, was initially banned from leaving Iran after visiting her family in 2024. She is now safely traveling back to the United States, according to Genser.
Trump's announcement came as the U.S. was launching fresh strikes on Iran, and the release was seen as part of a broader diplomatic effort, though Iran's Mizan news site denied any such release.
Background
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and historically known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the northeast, Afghanistan to the east, Pakistan to the southeast, and the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south.
What's confirmed
- Trump wrote on Truth Social, without naming the person.
What's still developing
- 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.
- 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.
- “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.
- A senior U.S. official also told NBC News on Thursday that Karari is out of Iran.
- 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.