Majlis to discuss case of ‘three Americans’

Iranian lawmakers are set to discuss the case of the three American nationals arrested over ‘illegally entering’ the country from Iraq.

Deputy Head of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Hossein Sobhaninia told Fars News Agency that the commission would discuss the case in detail in its weekly meeting on August 9, 2009.

“What we know about the case is what the media has reported,” said Sobhaninia. “We will discuss the additional information [handed to us] and the details of the case.”

Iran’s security officials have confirmed the arrest of three Americans on the Malakh- Khur border area in the Western city of Marivan, charging the detainees with “illegal entry”.

Kurdistan Province’s deputy governor for political-security affairs, Iraj Hassanzadeh, also announced that the three identified as Shane Bower, Sara Short and Joshua Steel, were traveling on Syrian and Iraqi visas.

This is while a source from Iraq’s Ahmed Awa told Press TV that one of the American detainees had claimed to be Iranian before crossing into Iran.

Colonel Anwar Haj Omar of the Halabja police force in northern Iraq had linked the three Americans to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), according to a Voices of Iraq report.

“These three people were agents working with the CIA and were arrested near the resort town of Ahmed Awa,” Omar was quoted as saying.

According to ISNA, the Swiss Embassy in Tehran — which represents US interests in Iran, as the two countries have no diplomatic relations — has requested a meeting with the American detainees.