Iran dismisses prisoner swap with U.S.: TV

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday that Iran does not consider it right to make discussions about prisoner swap with the United States, local satellite Press TV reported.

"The three U.S. citizens had trespassed Iran's border illegally. It is not right to make discussions about a swap between Iranian scholar Shahram Amiri, who went missing last year while on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, and the three U.S. hikers," Mehmanparast was quoted as saying.

Iran's state TV showed footage on Monday in which the nuclear scientist, Shahram Amiri, confirmed that he was kidnapped by the U. S. and Saudi intelligence services on a pilgrimage trip to Mecca in June 2009.

"The U.S. moves are inhumane and run counter to international regulations. We will definitely pursue Amiri's case through legal and political channels," said Mehmanparast according to the report.

Tehran has charged three U.S. citizens, Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, detained by Iranian security forces on the Iran-Iraq border in July 2009 with espionage.

Source: Xinhua