US woman held in Iran on spy charge

Iranian officials have arrested an American woman on spying charges and alleged that she tried to enter the country from Armenia "with spying equipment in her teeth," the Tehran-based Fars News Agency reported Thursday.

"About a week ago, an American spy woman whose name is said to be Hal Talayan was arrested by customs officials at the Nordouz" border area in East Azarbaijan province, Fars said, quoting an unnamed source.

"The 55-year-old American woman was arrested when she entered Iran from Armenia without a visa and had placed spying equipment in her teeth," the report said, without elaborating.

"This American spy said after being arrested that she would be killed by Armenian security forces if Iran handed her over," the report said.

There has been no official confirmation of the arrest, which was first reported Wednesday by a little-known conservative news website, na-simonline.ir, without naming any sources.

If the report is confirmed, she will be the fourth American arrested by Iran on spying charges, along with hikers Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal.

The three were detained on the Iranian border July 31, 2009, during a hiking excursion in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

While Shourd was released on humanitarian grounds, Iranian authorities have not dropped the case against her, and officials have set February 6 as a trial date for all three hikers.

The trial date coincides with the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the fall of the US-backed shah's regime.

AFP