Haleh Esfandiari Leaves Iran

Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian American scholar held since December by the Iranian government on charges of crimes against the nation and intending to foment a "velvet revolution," has been freed after 8 months of detention and imprisonment and is now in Austria. The Washington Post has the story here.

According to the Post, Tehran is still holding at least three known Iranian Americans and--possibly--an American ex-FBI agent:

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.

. . . Former FBI agent Robert A. Levinson has been missing since March when he made a business trip to Iran's Kish Island, where visas are not required. Unlike in the other cases, the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denies knowledge of Levinson's whereabouts, despite repeated diplomatic requests by the United States through other countries.

The most curious part of the story? That Esfandiari's release was secured as the result of a letter from her colleague Lee Hamilton directly to Ayatollah Ali Khomenei, Supreme Leader of Iran.

Her release followed a letter from Wilson Center President Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman and co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In an unusual move after other efforts failed, Khamenei responded to the letter and pledged to try to resolve Esfandiari's case.

Is there a rift between the Ayatollah and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Seems like an echo of the release of 15 British sailors captured in March.