By Nasser Karimi
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested in a television interview that Iran would release three jailed US hikers in exchange for Iranians currently serving in American prisons.
Ahmadinejad said that there were ongoing negotiations about possibly exchanging the hikers for several Iranians jailed for years in the United States.
"There are some talks under way to have an exchange, if it is possible," he said. "Recently they (the US) have sent messages, we answered to bring them (the Iranians), to bring these people (the hikers). We are hopeful that all prisoners to be released."
Ahmadinejad did not mention any specific cases but in December Iran released a list of 11 Iranians it says are being held in the US - including a nuclear scientist who disappeared in Saudi Arabia and a former Defence Ministry official who vanished in Turkey. The list also includes an Iranian arrested in Canada on charges of trying to obtain nuclear technology.
"I had said I would help in releasing them, but the attitude of some of US officials damages the job," said Ahmadinejad. "There are a large number of Iranians in prison in the U.S. They have abducted some of our citizens in other countries."
Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were hiking in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region in July when they accidentally crossed the border, their families have said.
Iran's foreign minister said in late December that the three would be tried in court, but he did not say when a trial would begin or what the three would be charged with other than to say they had "suspicious aims." Earlier, the country's chief prosecutor said they were accused of spying.
Their families say that's ludicrous and last month hired an Iranian attorney to press the case.
Ahmadinejad said there were "indications they knew they were crossing into Iran."
The last time anyone sympathetic saw the three was at the end of October, when Swiss diplomats were granted a short visit. The US has no diplomatic relationship with Iran and is represented in such matters by the Swiss. At the time, the diplomats said the three were in good health.
Their jailing comes amid continued tension between the US and Iran over that nation's nuclear program.
When the list of 11 Iranians came out State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said it appeared the Iranian government was trying to suggest some kind of equivalence between the hikers and Iranians that had left Iran.
"There really is no equivalence at all," he said at the time.
Three of the Iranians on the list have been convicted or charged in public court proceedings in the United States. The circumstances surrounding some of the others are more mysterious.
Ali Reza Asgari, a retired general in the elite Revolutionary Guard and a former deputy defence minister, disappeared while on a private trip to Turkey in December 2006.
Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear scientist, went missing while on a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia in June. Iran's foreign minister has accused the US of helping to kidnap him and has asked for his return.
The list also includes three Iranians who Tehran claims were abducted in Europe and sent to the US: merchant Mohsen Afrasiabi, who it says disappeared in Germany, as well as electrical engineering student Majid Kakavand and a former ambassador to Jordan, Nasrollah Tajik, who it says vanished in France.
French media have reported that Kakavand was arrested in March at the request of the US on suspicion he obtained electronic equipment. He was jailed, then moved to house arrest on August 27. The French press has reported that Tajik went missing in Britain.
Three of the Iranians Tehran is asking about have faced public legal proceedings in the US
One of them, Baktash Fattahi, is a legal US resident. He was arrested in April in California and charged with conspiracy to export American-made military aircraft parts to Iran.
Another, Amir Amirnazmi, is a dual US-Iranian citizen who was convicted by a court in Pennsylvania in February of business dealings with Iranian companies banned under US sanctions.
Amir Hossein Ardebili was sentenced to five years in prison on December 14 by a court in Wilmington, Delaware, after pleading guilty to plotting to ship US military technology to Iran. Iran has called it a show trial and said Ardebili was abducted in the former Soviet republic of Georgia in 2007 before being handed over to US authorities in 2008.
One of the other Iranians, Mahmoud Yadegari, was arrested in April in Canada after a joint investigation with the US Department of Homeland Security and charged with trying to send nuclear technology to his native Iran.
Authorities allege Yadegari tried to procure and export pressure transducers, which can be used in the production of enriched uranium but also have many legitimate commercial uses.
The other two Iranians on the list are Amir-Shahrzad Amir-Qolikhani and Hassan Saeid Kashari. Iran gave no information about them other than to say they are being held in the US without charge.
AP