Arash Aramesh

Tehran’s prosecutor general, Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi, said Monday that the charge against the three American citizens held in Iran was espionage, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The Persian word Jafari-Dolatabadi used can mean both “charged” and “accused.” This judicial official added, “Investigations are still ongoing and further comments will be made about their case in the near future.”

The three American hikers, Shane M. Bauer of Emeryville, Calif.; Joshua F. Fattal of Cottage Grove, Ore.; and Sarah E. Shourd of Oakland, Calif., were detained on the border between Iran and Iraq. According to family members and Kurdish authorities, they were hiking in the Kurdistan region, where allegedly they crossed into Iranian territory from Turkey and were arrested by Iranian authorities.

Jafari-Dolatabadi’s comments come only five days after the 30th anniversary of the hostage crisis when a number of U.S. diplomats were held in Iran for 444 days. This new crisis will further strain the relationship between the United States and Iran. Washington and other world powers are in negotiations with Iran over its controversial nuclear program. It is not clear whether Iran will use these three American students as a bargaining chip in the nuclear negotiations.

Iran has a history of using detainees as bargaining chips with the United States. For instance, last January, Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was detained in Tehran, convicted of espionage in a Revolutionary Court, and then released on appeal in May. Two months later, U.S. forces in Iraq freed five Iranians who they had been holding for months. Iran claimed they were diplomats and protected under diplomatic immunity. They later claimed that the Iranian diplomats were tortured by U.S. troops and intelligence officials in Iraq.

Last September, in an interview with the Associated Press, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, “What I can ask is that the judiciary expedite the process and gives it its full attention, and to basically take a look at the case with maximum leniency.” He asserted that the American tourists had violated Iranian law by crossing the border illegally.