Iran allows detained U.S. citizen to leave

An Iranian American reporter who was barred from exiting Iran for months on suspicion of trying to stir up a revolution was allowed to leave the country Tuesday and return to the United States.

Parnaz Azima was one of four Iranian Americans charged with endangering national security, an accusation they denied.

The charges have added to tensions between the United States and Iran, already high over Washington’s accusations that Tehran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons and is fueling violence in Iraq. Iran denies both charges.

Azima was the second of the U.S. citizens allowed to leave in recent weeks.

“The Iranian government probably thinks it has gotten enough mileage out of their detention,” said Ray Takeyh, a specialist on Mideast policy at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations. He said other organizations with representatives in Iran had shied away from political activities since the Americans were charged. “They made their point.”

Azima “left Iran today and is on her way to the United States,” Sania Winter, a spokeswoman for Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty, said Tuesday from Washington.

Unlike the other three Americans, Azima -- who works for the Persian-language service Radio Farda -- was not imprisoned, but authorities confiscated her passport when she arrived in January on a family visit.

Azima’s lawyer in Tehran, Mohammed Hossein Aghassi, said the charges against her had not been dropped but she was allowed to leave after posting bail of about $450,000, using the deed to her mother’s house. Her passport was returned to her Sept. 4.

Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program for the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, was released Aug. 21 after being held for months in Tehran’s Evin prison. Esfandiari left the country early this month.

Kian Tajbakhsh and Ali Shakeri remain in Evin prison.