Iran state TV confirmed that it has detained three Americans who crossed the border from northern Iraq, saying they failed to heed warnings from Iranian guards. Kurdish officials from the self-ruled region in northern Iraq said the three – two men and a woman – were tourists who had mistakenly crossed into Iranian territory while hiking in a mountainous area near the resort town of Ahmed Awaa. “The Iranians said they have arrested them because they entered their land without legal permission,” said Qubad Talabani, the Kurdish regional government’s envoy to Washington. Iran’s state owned Arabic-language al-Alam TV station cited a “well-informed source” in the Interior Ministry that the three Americans were detained after crossing into Iran’s Kurdistan province. The three Americans had travelled with a companion to Turkey, then entered the Kurdish region through the border crossing at Zakho and travelled to Sulaimaniyah, according to the Kurdish regional government. The report said the Americans were arrested after they did not heed warnings from Iranian border guards. The detentions were the latest irritant in relations between Iran and the United States, which have had no diplomatic ties since 1979.
AMERICANS ARRESTED IN IRAN
Iran state TV confirmed that it has detained three Americans who crossed the border from northern Iraq, saying they failed to heed warnings from Iranian guards.
