President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that an American citizen who had been wrongfully detained in Iran since December 2024 has been released and is safely out of the country.
He called the move a gesture of goodwill and thanked Iran for its cooperation.
“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!” the president said on Truth Social.
He didn’t provide any further details.
Jared Genser, an attorney, said Dena Karari was his client and that Karari was the woman released by Iran.
“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 [Donald Trump]. Dena is now safe and traveling back to the United States.”
On June 24, Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded to a question about Americans who have been detained in Iran.
“We’re always concerned about wrongfully detained Americans everywhere in the world,” Rubio said. “That’s always an issue we’ll raise in every forum that it becomes available. But I don’t want to discuss any specific cases. It complicates them. And that’s not just true with Iran; that’s true in other parts of the world as well.”
Rubio said there is an “entire office” dedicated to helping release U.S. citizens detained in other countries.
“We raise it in every forum and in every opportunity we get, and we make it our highest priority,” Rubio said. “And this president, by the way, has a record of getting Americans released that’s unparalleled, the number of Americans that we’ve gotten released from around the world as a result of the efforts of the SPEHA Office as it’s called and, of course, of the president. So we’ll always prioritize wrongfully detained Americans everywhere in the world.”
