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TEHRAN, Iran — Iran on Monday accused three detained Americans of spying, signaling that Tehran intends to put them on trial. That drew a sharp U.S. response that the charges are baseless because the hikers strayed across the border from Iraq.
Washington and Tehran are deadlocked in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, raising concern that the three could be used as bargaining chips in the talks or to seek the return of Iranians who Iran says are missing.The White House called for their release, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the spying accusations are baseless."We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever," she said in Berlin. Relatives and the U.S. government say the three were innocent tourists on an adventure hike in northern Iraq and accidentally crossed into Iran, where they were arrested July 31.Commenting on the case, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the U.S. of jailing innocent Iranians and pointed to two of his countrymen — a nuclear scientist and a top defense official — who disappeared in recent years. Tehran accuses the U.S. of kidnapping them. The U.S. has refused to comment on the two, and there has been speculation that they defected to the West.Asked about the spying accusations against the Americans, Ahmadinejad told reporters in Istanbul, "It must be judged by the judiciary, whether they are spies or not." He said that the Americans had crossed the border illegally and that Iran has a right to punish them. Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, all graduates of the University of California, Berkeley, have been held in Evin prison, where Swiss diplomats have visited them twice and said they are healthy.They had been trekking in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, their relatives say.
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