U.S. urban planner freed from prison

Iran released New York-based urban planner Kian Tajbakhsh from Evin prison in Tehran late Wednesday night, according to George Soros's Open Society Institute, for which Tajbakhsh has served as a consultant.

Tajbakhsh is the third Iranian American to be released recently. Haleh Esfandiari was freed last month, and Parnaz Azima was allowed to leave the country Tuesday.

Unlike the other Americans, who were visiting ailing relatives in Iran, Tajbakhsh had been working as a consultant to Iranian ministries on health issues.