Iran 'refuses to grant access to hikers'

18 Sep 2009, 7:35 am   -   Source: AAP
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The US says the Iranians have failed to grant requests from the Swiss, who represent US interests in Tehran, to meet three US hikers arrested weeks ago.

The United States says the Iranians have failed to grant requests from the Swiss, who represent US interests in Tehran, to meet three US hikers arrested weeks ago.

"Yesterday the Swiss ambassador (Livia Leu Agosti) once again was in contact with Iranian officials and demanded consular access that we have yet to be granted under the Vienna Convention," the State Department's Philip Crowley said on Thursday.

Americans Joshua Fattal, 27, Shane Bauer, 27 and Sarah Shourd, 31, went missing on July 31 after setting out on a hike from Iraq's northern Kurdistan region on the poorly marked border with Iran.

Iran later notified Washington about the arrest of the three through the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents US interests in Iran in the absence of US-Iranian diplomatic relations.

"We understand the families that want their loved ones back. So do we. And we continue to press as hard as we can, through the Swiss, to get that done," Crowley, the assistant secretary of state for public affairs, told reporters.

"We have not yet been granted consular access and they (the Iranians via the Swiss) have not yet informed us where the hikers are actually located," he said.

"And so we await the opportunity when Swiss officials can meet with them, make sure that they are being well taken care of," Crowley said.

On September 7, Iran said it would take time to decide on the fate of three detained US hikers who entered the Islamic republic from neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan.

Ali Reza Salari, deputy foreign minister in charge of US affairs, was quoted as saying in a meeting with Swiss ambassador Agosti the "real reason" for the entry of the three Americans was still being probed.

Media reports says Bauer had been living in Damascus with Shourd - who teaches English in the Syrian capital - since late last year. He speaks Arabic fluently and works as a freelance journalist, although he was not on assignment when he entered Iran.

Fattal has been described as an environmentalist who taught sustainable living skills in several countries, including India and China.

All three are graduates from the University of California at Berkeley.

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