Trump says Iran has released American woman detained since 2024

By Jennifer Hansler, Alejandra Jaramillo, CNN

(CNN) — An American woman held in Iran since 2024 was allowed to leave the country, President Donald Trump and her US-based lawyer said Wednesday.

Trump said the woman, later identified by her lawyer as Dena Karari, had been wrongfully detained and was “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.

Her departure from the country comes as the US military continues to strike Iran following the collapse of the memorandum of understanding between the two countries.

Jared Genser, Karari’s lawyer, called it a “minor miracle” that she was able to leave Iran in the middle of a war, but also because of her ailing health. Genser told CNN the 53-year-old Karari had suffered a massive heart attack last week, and there were significant concerns about her condition moving forward.

Trump did not provide additional details about the circumstances of her release. CNN has reached out to the White House and the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

Genser said Karari was heading back to the United States and praised the Trump administration for their work to help get her home.

“They were doing everything they can and pushing from every direction they could,” he told CNN.

Karari’s case was not publicly known prior to Wednesday. She had traveled to Iran to see family, Genser said, but when she went to the airport to leave, her American and Iranian passports were seized and she was unable to depart. A month later, she and her family were pulled over by Iranian authorities and she was briefly taken into custody and interrogated for hours, he said.

She was ultimately interrogated dozens of times and was subjected to “a coercive exit ban,” Genser said. She been targeted because she operated “a non-profit called the Children of Mehr Foundation, which helped impoverished children in Iran with private donor support and authorization of an OFAC license,” he said.

But in April, “for reasons we don’t entirely understand,” Karari’s exit ban expired and she got her passports back, Genser told CNN. She tried to leave but was turned back.

Then negotiations began on the US-Iran MOU, and “we reached out obviously urgently to the White House and to the negotiators” to urge them to push on her case, Genser said, adding that it was his understanding that it was raised.

“Ultimately, earlier today, she’s able to get across the border” and leave Iran, he said.

Genser said that Karari’s case was “uniquely positioned” compared to those of other Americans who remain detained in Iran, because of the expiration of the exit ban and the fact that she was not in detention. Genser also said she was accused but never charged with a crime. A source familiar told CNN she had been detained, charged and released on bail with an exit ban.

“I expect that Dena will have more to say in the coming days, but for now she needs to rest and recuperate,” Genser said in a statement. “We urge Iran to drop all the remaining charges against those who worked locally in support of the Children of Mehr Foundation, who are innocent and committed no crimes. And I personally call on Iran to release both all wrongly imprisoned Americans and those subjected to coercive exit bans and all Iranian political prisoners.”

There are other Americans who remain detained in Iran, including two who have been designated as wrongfully detained: Reza Valizadeh and Kamran Hekmati. As of last month, the US government was tracking at least six Americans detained in Iran, a US official said.

Global Reach, the nonprofit organization working to free Hekmati, praised the release of Karari and touted Trump in a statement Wednesday.

“We know he is tracking the cases of Kamran Hekmati currently held in Evin prison on false charges, and are hopeful this is an indicator that he will be released soon,” the statement said.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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