American Hikers In Iran | featured news

Investigations into spying allegations against three American hikers detained in Iran will be completed soon, Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi said in a news report on Saturday.

The mothers of three Americans detained in Iran for a year have put their own careers on hold and turned to what's become a full-time job for them: attempting to secure their children's release.

Iran will not propose to Washington the release of three U.S. detainees in return for an Iranian nuclear scientist it says was kidnapped by the CIA, the foreign minister's spokesman said on Tuesday.

Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd, two of the three Americans held in Iran on suspicion of spying, have gotten engaged in Tehran's Evin jail and will marry once they are freed, their mothers said on Monday.

Iran's intelligence minister on Sunday signaled that Tehran might be open to a prisoner swap with the U.S. for three Americans jailed in Iran since last July.

Sarah Shourd, 31, Shane Bauer, 27, and Josh Fattal, 27, were arrested along the Iraqi border 10 months ago. Iran has accused them of espionage and entering the country illegally; their families say the three were hiking in Iraq's largely peaceful mountainous northern Kurdish region and that if they crossed the border, it was accidental.

Three Americans jailed in Iran since they allegedly strayed into Iran during a hiking expedition 10 months ago embraced their mothers Thursday morning in an emotional reunion broadcast on state television.

Three American hikers who have been detained in Iran after crossing into the country from Iraq have been charged with espionage, according to Iran's State News Agency.