Middle East, Prisoner Exchange | featured news

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.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday he was hopeful that the cases of Americans detained in Iran and of Iranians held in the United States would be resolved and that they would be freed.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is ruling out Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's suggestion that three detained ...