Tanavoli was scheduled to leave Tehran for London on July 2, 2016 to attend a celebration held for him at the British Museum and for the release of his new book, “European Women in Persian Houses: Western Images in Safavid and Qajar Iran”, published in the United Kingdom. He was prevented from leaving at Tehran's Imam Khomeini International airport.

Tanavoli went to the Culture and Media Court on July 10, 2016, and found that he is barred from leaving the country because of a complaint made by the Law Enforcement Force of Islamic Republic of Iran.

After the court hearing, he told ILNA news that the charge against him was "spreading lies and disturbing the public mind".

"These accusations are based on my previous sculpture work," Tanavoli said. "According to them, the sculptures I have made disturb the public mind and spread lies. Surely there is someone behind this, but I do not know who is doing it and with what intention."

Tanavoli also said the reason for these accusations were his sculptures in the Niavaran Museum Palace, a collection on display at Shahrivar Gallery titled "Tanavoli and 50 Years of Pop Art" and some of the sculptures in his personal collection.

"Tanavoli wanted to buy back some of his early sculptures, which were owned by a collector, but since the collector did not intend to sell them, they agreed to exchange those works with six other works by Tanavoli," Tabnak website reported on Tanavoli's exit ban.

The site wrote that the collector handed the sculptures to Tanavoli, but the artist did not deliver the six agreed paintings to the collector. Eventually, the private collector sued and Tanavoli was barred from leaving the country.

Tanavoli had previously been criticized for his work by the state-run "Kayhan" newspaper.