{"id":4710,"date":"2026-07-16T23:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4710"},"modified":"2026-07-16T23:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:09:14","slug":"palo-alto-networks-employee-held-in-iran-on-spying-charges-is-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4710","title":{"rendered":"Palo Alto Networks employee held in Iran on spying charges is released"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Iran has released a dual Iranian American citizen who had been charged with espionage and barred from leaving the country for more than a year pending a trial, according to President Donald Trump and her lawyer on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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The woman, Dena Karari, 53, and a resident of California, had her passport seized as she visited relatives in the southwestern city of Shiraz in December 2024. While she was not detained, she was interrogated on various occasions by authorities, according to her lawyer, Jared Genser.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, she was on a flight back to the United States, Genser said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDena is now free and out of Iran and on her way back to the United States,\u201d Genser said. \u201cThis would not have happened but for the extraordinary and relentless efforts of President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump first announced the news in a social media post, praising the act of \u201cgoodwill\u201d by Iran, even as the war with the United States approaches its fifth month. \u201cShe is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition,\u201d he said in the post. \u201cThe United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran!\u201d<\/p>\n

Genser said that Karari was caught up in Iran\u2019s long-held practice of apprehending dual citizens to use as political pawns.<\/p>\n

She was never held in jail but was repeatedly interrogated by officials of Iran\u2019s Ministry of Intelligence and charged with collaborating with a hostile state, he said. She came under scrutiny in the wake of the June war between Iran and Israel and the United States in 2025, according to Genser. Espionage is a criminal offense in Iran that can carry many years in prison and even the death penalty.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear if Karari\u2019s release involved any kind of a reciprocal deal between Iran and the United States involving detainee swap. In 2023, the Biden administration negotiated the release of five American prisoners held in Iran in an agreement that included a hostage swap and the release of $6 billion of Iran\u2019s frozen assets.<\/p>\n

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It was not certain if the U.S. had brought up her case and the cases of other Americans detained in Iran during its latest peace talks with Iran. The office of Steve Witkoff, the president\u2019s special envoy who has participated in negotiations with Iran, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Iran at the United Nations declined to comment.<\/p>\n

There are at least three other American citizens held by Iran \u2014 another woman and two men, according to their families, lawyers, and Hostage Aid Worldwide, a nonprofit organization that was founded by former hostages to help families and that is in touch with the current detainees\u2019 friends and families.<\/p>\n

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Kamran Hekmati, a 70-year-old Jewish Iranian American jeweler who traveled to Iran in May 2025, has been held in Tehran\u2019s Evin prison, according to family members. Hekmati has been sentenced to two years in prison for going to Israel to attend his son\u2019s bar mitzvah, his family said.<\/p>\n

At least one other Iranian American citizen, journalist Reza Valizadeh, is serving a 10-year prison sentence on charges of collaborating with a hostile government and is being held in Evin prison, according to his lawyer. Valizadeh is a former employee of Radio Farda, the Persian-language news outlet that is part of the State Department-funded Radio Free Europe.<\/p>\n

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Two of the four Americans were arrested by security agents in the immediate aftermath of Israel\u2019s attacks on Iran in June 2025, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency and Hengaw, an independent rights groups based in Washington DC. The other is a woman from California who was held in Evin prison, but her identity has not been publicly revealed.<\/p>\n

The State Department has said in the past that it would not comment out of security and privacy concerns on individual cases of Americans held in Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, there are other Americans still detained in Iran, including Kamran Hekmati and Reza Valizadeh, but I believe today\u2019s news is a positive sign that President Trump knows about them all and will fulfill his promise to bring them all home,\u201d Neda Sharghi, sister of a former American detainee Emad Sharghi and board member of The Foley Foundation, an advocacy group for Americans held hostage abroad.<\/p>\n

Karari\u2019s friends and family were overjoyed with the good news. For two years, they had anxiously lobbied for her release and nearly lost hope when war broke out between Iran and the United States and Israel in February. Karari was an employee of Palo Alto Networks and ran a nonprofit organization for improvised children in Iran called the Children of Mehr Foundation, according to Genser.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am overwhelmed with relief and gratitude. After everything Dena has endured, seeing her finally reach safety is an incredibly emotional moment for all of us,\u201d said Dr. Mehrdad Mobasher, a close friend of Karari in California who was leading the efforts for her release, in an interview.<\/p>\n

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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