TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's intelligence minister says three Americans jailed in Iran are spies and is signaling Tehran might be open to a prisoner swap with the U.S.
Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were arrested in July along the Iran-Iraq border 10 months ago. Tehran recently allowed the trio’s mothers to visit their children.
A report on Iranian state TV’s website quoted Haidar Moslehi as saying once Washington makes a similar humanitarian gesture toward Iranians in U.S. custody, "then we may get to the stage of whether or not there would be a swap."
Moslehi also said Sunday it is "clear and obvious" the three are spies.
In March, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed an exchange of the three Americans with detained Iranians in the U.S. That proposal never got off the ground.
