06/01/2011 15:48
Iran detains on spy charges American woman arriving from Armenia
Iranian authorities have detained a 55-year-old American woman on spying charges, a state-owned newspaper reported Thursday.
The daily IRAN said the woman had spying equipment hidden on her body when customs authorities detained her in the border town of Nordouz, 370 miles northwest of the capital Tehran.
The report said she arrived in Iran from Armenia without a visa. It did not say when she was detained.
"The American woman whose name is Hall Talayan and had set technical spying equipment, microphone in her teeth was arrested by the (Iranian) customs guards in Nordouz," the report said, according to the Chinese news service Xinhua.
The woman is the fourth American Iran has arrested and accused of spying in less than two years.
In July 2009, Iran detained three Americans who were initially accused of crossing the border illegally from northern Iraq and later accused of spying.
The U.S. has dismissed the spying charges and says the three are innocent hikers.