The US government is urging Iran to release three US citizens arrested near the Iraqi border last week. The three were on a hiking tour of the Mountains in the Kurdish border region.

Tehran says they illegally entered Iran, but Washington argues they intended no harm and should be released immediately.

In January, US journalist Roxana Saberi was held for several months and sentenced to eight years in jail for espionage. On 11 May, the sentence was reduced on appeal to a two-year suspended sentence. She was able to leave Iran four days later.