Three American hikers held in Iran for 10 months amid espionage accusations had an emotional reunion with their mothers at a Tehran hotel on Thursday, an AFP correspondent said.
Iran's English-language state-run Press TV showed Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, tightly embracing their mothers in what appeared to be a suite in up-scale Esteghlal hotel.
The three -- dressed in jeans, with Shourd wearing a maroon headscarf too -- rushed into their mothers' arms at the beginning of the visit brokered by the Swiss embassy which protects US interests in Iran in the absence of diplomatic ties.
The visit, which started around noon (0730 GMT), is expected to last "a few hours," a source close to the case told AFP.
Television pictures showed refreshments of fresh fruit and pastries laid out on a coffee table in the room.
The mothers arrived on one-week visas on Wednesday at a time when long-tense relations between the two countries have been further strained by a US drive this week to slap new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
Iran has given no official indication it is preparing to release the trio, although the visit itself was seen as a breakthrough.
"I have very strong hopes of the great possibility of bringing them home. I would like to plea for that," Bauer's mother, Cindy Hickey, told Press TV on arrival at the airport.
The three young Americans were detained on July 31 after crossing Iran's border while on a hiking trip in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region.
Washington insists they are innocent and should be released, stressing that the three hikers had strayed in error across an unmarked border in a remote mountainous area.
But on Wednesday, Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi renewed accusations of espionage against them.
"Despite their being spies and entering Iran illegally, they were dealt with according to religious teachings and in a humanitarian way" Moslehi said.
Moslehi first made the allegation that the trio were spies in April when he said Iran had "compelling evidence that three Americans were cooperating with intelligence services."
In March, Tehran public prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said the three faced espionage charges. But last December, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said they were accused of entering the country illegally.
The mothers were excited and emotional as they left the United States on Tuesday, after having been granted visas last week.
"This is a day we've been waiting for," said Nora Shourd, while Laura Fattal said she would be "wildly happy" if she could bring her son home with her.
In their baggage they had packed letters from friends, photographs and empty notebooks for the detainees to record their experiences.
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
