Iran isn’t the source of much good news these days, though I suppose this counts:
Washington scholar Haleh Esfandiari was allowed to leave Tehran early this morning, ending an eight-month saga of imprisonment and virtual house arrest that heightened tense relations between the United States and Iran.
We’re still waiting on a few others:
There is still no news, however, on the status of four other Americans either detained or missing in Iran. New York-based social scientist Kian Tajbakhsh and California businessman Ali Sharkeri are in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. Both were picked up in the same three-day period in early May when Esfandiari was arrested.
Parnaz Azima, a correspondent for U.S.-funded Radio Farda, is out on bail of more than $600,000. As in Esfandiari’s case, Azima was in Iran visiting her ailing mother when her passport was confiscated, and the bail was guaranteed by handing over the deed to her mother’s home.
Esfandiari, Tajbakhsh, Sharkeri and Azima are all dual nationals who have spent decades in the United States.