Trump says Iran has released US citizen detained since 2024

Dena Karari, dual US-Iranian citizen, ‘now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition’, president posts on Truth Social

Donald Trump said Wednesday Iran had agreed to release an American citizen who was "wrongfully detained" since December 2024. "She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition," Trump wrote on social media, without naming the woman. "The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran!"

Trump's announcement came as the US launched fresh strikes on Iran. The woman is Dena Karari, a dual American and Iranian citizen, her lawyer Jared Genser announced on social media. Genser said that he was "excited to report" that Karari, who was banned from leaving Iran after visiting her family in 2024, and was interrogated but not detained, "is now safe and traveling back to the United States".

"This would not have happened but for the extraordinary and relentless efforts" of the president, he added. The New York Times reported last year that an Iranian American woman who was first imprisoned and prevented from leaving the country in December 2024, but released from custody, "works for an American technological company and runs a charity for underprivileged children in Iran". After the US joined Israel in bombing Iran in 2025, she was charged with espionage.

According to a 2023 Guardian profile of Genser, the human rights lawyer nicknamed "the extractor" has managed to free over 340 prisoners of conscience from 20 countries over the past two decades.