The United States welcomed on Tuesday the release of Iranian-American academic Haleh Esfandiari, saying it hopes to see more positive movement from the Islamic republic.
"We certainly hope we'll see the other American citizens who've been detained in the same circumstances as soon as possible," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.
Esfandiari, 67, head of the Middle East program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, was arrested in last December when she was in Iran to visit her 93- year-old mother. His passport was also said to be "stolen" at that time.
She was released on Aug. 21 after more than 100 days in prison, but was not immediately allowed to leave Iran. She left Iran on Monday.
The Iranian authorities had accused Esfandiari of harming national security and trying to foment a "velvet revolution" against the current Iranian government.
The detaining of Esfandiari and another three Iranian Americans has escalated the current tensions between Washington and Tehran.
Source: Xinhua
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