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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.


      Last week, Iran allowed the trio's mothers to visit their
children. The mothers were hoping to secure their children's'
release, but returned to the United States on Saturday
empty-handed. However, they say they were heartened to find their
children are being treated well and in reasonable health.


      On Sunday, Iranian Intelligence Minister Haidar Moslehi said the
three Americans' "status as spies is a clear and obvious case,"
according to state TV.


      But Moslehi said there would be a chance of discussing a
prisoner exchange with the U.S. once Washington makes a
humanitarian gesture toward Iranians in U.S. custody similar to the
one Iran made last week toward the mothers.
      


"Our expectation is that the U.S., which has a claim on human
rights issues, could make a similar human rights gesture to us,
then we may get to the stage of whether or not there would be a
swap," Moslehi said. He did not elaborate.
     

 Iran has repeatedly accused the U.S. of abducting some 10
Iranians abroad and sentencing them to prison terms.


      On Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told
reporters in Washington that the U.S. is "not contemplating any
kind of a prisoner swap" for the three Americans.
    

  "But if Iran has questions about any of its citizens and
whether we have any information as to their whereabouts, we would
be more than happy to receive that diplomatic note and respond to
it," he said.
   

   Moslehi's comments on Sunday fall far short of the prisoner
exchange that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed in March. That
idea, however, failed to gain traction at the time.


      Fattal's family lives near Philadelphia. Bauer's lives in Pine
City, Minn., and Shourd's lives in Oakland, Calif.
      

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Politics and Government 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.


Iran spy chief suggests possible prisoner exchange

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