A Princeton University student, held for two years by an Iran-backed militia, has been freed, Donald Trump has announced.
In a social media post Tuesday, the president said that Elizabeth Tsurkov, who went missing while on a study trip in March 2023, had been returned to the American embassy in Iraq after more than 900 days in captivity.
“I am pleased to report that Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton Student, whose sister is an American Citizen, was just released by Kata’ib Hezbollah (MILITANT Hezbollah), and is now safely in the American Embassy in Iraq after being tortured for many months,” the president wrote on Truth Social Tuesday.
“I will always fight for JUSTICE, and never give up. HAMAS, RELEASE THE HOSTAGES, NOW!”
Four months after Tsurkov’s disappearance, the Israeli government announced she had been abducted by Kataib Hezbollah.
The Shiite paramilitary group is based in Iraq and is a separate organization from the Hezbollah movement, which is also Iran-backed, but operates in Lebanon. Both are listed by the U.S. government as terrorist organizations and linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Since her disappearance, the only direct sign of life Tsurkov’s family has received had been a November 2023 video of her broadcast on an Iraqi television station and circulated on pro-Iranian social media.
However they had remained hopeful of her release. Reports back in May suggested that negotiators had been very close to a deal, but the terms were complicated and nothing materialized at the time.
Repeated attempts to secure her freedom previously had met dead ends.
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