U.S.-Iran dual citizen returns home after exit ban, lawyer says
Dena Karari is back in the U.S. after being barred from leaving Iran since December 2024, according to her attorney Jared Genser.
By Frankie Delgado · News Reporter
3 min read
Dena Karari, a U.S.-Iran dual citizen who had been blocked from leaving Iran for more than a year, is back in the United States, her attorney Jared Genser said Sunday.
Genser posted on social media that Karari had returned after what he described as 566 days wrongly detained by the Iranian regime. His post included a photo of Karari at an airport with an American flag draped around her.
Karari had been unable to leave Iran since December 2024 after Iranian authorities placed her under an exit ban over allegations of espionage and collaboration with a hostile state, according to Genser. He called the allegations “bogus” in a social media post earlier in the week.
Karari was not imprisoned, according to CBS News, but the exit ban meant Iranian authorities would not allow her to depart the country. CBS News reported that Iran never formally charged her.
Although the exit ban expired in April, Iranian authorities still did not let Karari leave at that time, CBS News reported. Two sources told the network that she suffered a heart attack on July 8.
Trump cited an unnamed released American
President Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier Wednesday that Iran had released a U.S. citizen, though he did not name the person.
“She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition,” Trump wrote, adding that the United States appreciated what he called Iran’s gesture of goodwill.
Genser announced late Wednesday that Karari was free and “safe and traveling back to the United States.” By Sunday morning, he said she had arrived in the U.S. and thanked those who helped secure her return, “known and unknown.”
The State Department declined to comment on the situation, according to CBS News.
Two sources told CBS News that Karari’s name appeared on a list of Americans that the State Department had given to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, who is helping lead U.S.-Iran diplomacy, so he could press for her release.
Other Americans remain held in Iran
Several Americans remain imprisoned in Iran, CBS News reported. Two of them, Kamran Hekmati and Reza Valizadeh, have been formally designated by the State Department as wrongfully detained.
The State Department can make that designation for U.S. nationals based on several criteria, including credible evidence of innocence or reports that a person is being held to pressure the U.S. government into concessions.
Valizadeh, an Iranian American journalist, pleaded for his release from Tehran’s Evin Prison in a recording obtained by CBS News last month.
The release of detained Americans was not included in a memorandum of understanding signed by the U.S. and Iran last month, CBS News reported. That agreement extended a ceasefire between the two countries for 60 days.
Fighting between the U.S. and Iran has resumed over the past week, according to CBS News, even as Karari’s return placed one American back on U.S. soil.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.