Three American hikers jailed in Iran for 10 months reunited with their mothers at a Tehran hotel on Thursday as a senior official renewed espionage accusations against them, 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 upscale Esteghlal hotel.
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.
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.
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
