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Iran cannot confirm arrest of three Americans - Foreign Ministry

by albertacowpoke | August 5, 2009 at 03:10 am

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A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said today that the could not confirm that three American tourirst had been arrested for their incursion into Iranian territory.

"There have been contradictory and vague reports on their arrest in Iran. I cannot confirm or deny the arrests until further investigation," Hassan Qashqavi told state radio.

It had been reported that a party of 2 men and one woman had been arrested on Saturday by a senior security official of the autonomous Kurdish region.

EHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday he could not confirm whether three Americans had been detained by Iran.

"There have been contradictory and vague reports on their arrest in Iran. I cannot confirm or deny the arrests until further investigation," Hassan Qashqavi told state radio.

On Tuesday, a local security official in Iran's western Kurdistan province, Iraj Hassanzadeh, told state-run al-Alam television that three Americans had been detained there.

"They are definitely Americans," he said. "They were detained four days ago. We don't know whether they are tourists or not. We are questioning them."

A senior security official in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region said on Saturday that three tourists had strayed across northern Iraq's border with Iran near Ahmed Awa and been detained.