UPDATE 1-U.S.-Iranian reporter free to leave Iran - Ebadi

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TEHRAN, Sept 4 (Reuters) - U.S.-Iranian reporter Parnaz Azima has been given her passport back and is free to depart, after months of being prevented from leaving Tehran, her employer and Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi said on Tuesday.

The news came one day after another Iranian-American citizen, Haleh Esfandiari, flew out of Tehran some two weeks after being freed on bail following more than three months in detention on spying charges.

The cases of four Iranian-Americans detained in Iran, or otherwise prevented from leaving, have stoked tension with Tehran's old foe, the United States, at a time of a deepening international standoff over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"She (Azima) is free to leave the country if she wants," Ebadi, who leads the Centre for the Defenders of Human Rights, told Reuters.

Azima, who went on a visit to Iran in January, is based in Prague for a U.S.-funded radio station. An Iranian judicial source said in June she was detained for cooperating with "anti-revolutionary" media but freed on bail.

Earlier on Tuesday, an Iranian judge was quoted as saying a third dual citizen, Kian Tajbakhsh, will be released on bail when the investigation into his case is complete.

"The investigations about his (Tajbakhsh's) case are continuing and after they are completed his arrest (status) will be changed to bail," Judge Hossein Haddad told state broadcaster IRIB, according to its Web site.

Esfandiari walked free after her family paid bail of 3 billion rials ($320,000).

Azima works for the Persian-language Radio Farda, run jointly by Prague-based, U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America and beaming programmes about Iran.

RFE/RL said on its Web site that she had collected her passport form the authorities on Tuesday and planned to leave the country soon.

Iran has accused Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh in what it says is a U.S.-led plot to topple its clerical establishment in a "soft revolution". The United States has dismissed the allegation.

Tajbakhsh is a consultant with the Soros Institute, founded by billionaire investor George Soros. Esfandiari works at the U.S. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. They were both visiting Tehran when they were detained.

Analysts have seen the detention of U.S.-Iranians as part of a broader crackdown on dissent when Tehran is under pressure over its nuclear programme, which the Washington sees as a bid to build bombs despite Iran's denials.

Some have also linked Tehran's actions to the detention by U.S. forces in January of five Iranians, accused of backing Iraqi militants. Iran denies the charges and says they are diplomats. Tehran denies any link to the dual nationals' cases.

(Additional reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague)

Keywords: IRAN USA/AZIMA