Hikers In Iranian Custody, Government Confirms

WASHINGTON — The White House says Iran has confirmed it has three American hikers in custody.

The Americans strayed into Iran while hiking in the mountains of Kurdish territory in neighboring Iraq.

President Barack Obama's national security adviser, James Jones, said that as of Sunday morning, the Iranian government has confirmed it has them in custody.

U.S. and Kurdish officials say the Americans accidentally entered Iran across the poorly marked border on July 31.

Reports from Iran have said Tehran was looking into whether the three were spying for the United States. But until Jones' comment, there had not been any official Iranian government confirmation that the three were in custody.

Jones spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Comments

[MaximMaximus]

02:51 PM on 08/10/2009

WTF! Who goes to northern Iraq for camping and then hikes in the vicinity of the Iraq-Iran border? WTF were these people thinking? Something's fishy here!

[DontFeedTheBeast]

02:44 PM on 08/10/2009

more al gore employees?

[MaximMaximus]

02:49 PM on 08/10/2009

Don't you think it is presumptuous to ask such a nonsensical question? We all can guess your real intention!

[DontFeedTheBeast]

02:54 PM on 08/10/2009

my real intention is to find out if they are working for gore like the other DAs that wandered into n. korea

[sassafra]

01:33 PM on 08/10/2009

this is darwinism in action pure and simple and i have little compassion for their high level of incompetence. there was little reason for a well prepared hiker to cross the border, maps, compass, GPS, navagation by sun and stars, and mostly common sense to STAY PUT when lost.
ignorant and ill-prepared people such as these put their own rescuers at risk.

[Intelligentia]

11:45 AM on 08/10/2009

Could also be part of the conspiracy to destabilize Obama government. Create as much foreign policy problems as possible for him.

[Ergon]

11:32 AM on 08/10/2009

Simple: They're spies, and should be treated as such.

[Academic]

09:52 AM on 08/10/2009

I know that the average US citizen doesn't have a passport and therefore doesn't venture outside the US. But isn't it somewhat odd that those who do always end up "accidentally" in a country that the US is hostile to? Coincidence or just plain stupidity? Or is somebody just trying to wind the rest of us up here?

Why should I buy this stuff of US citizens "accidentally" crossing into other people's countries - from Burma to North Korea to Iran, you name it they go there when I know perfectly well, as does every other intelligent person, that if it were the other way around and all these so-called "journalists" were ending up in the US in the same way you would be the first to put a different perspective on the issue?

Double standards? Hypocrisy? Stupidity? Or all of these?

Professor Dr. Stanley Collymore.

[loki]

02:12 AM on 08/10/2009

maybe they thought they would gain notoriety like the 2 female Journalist in NK did.
After all, in this day and age of unemployment and the thought that we might soon be returning to Republican dictatorship if they can succeed in bringing Obama down with Jebs shadow Gov, maybe these "hikers" thought of the book and appearance deals they will get if they make it out of there alive?
I mean, people do a lot dumber things for much less. Just look at the republican base..

[Horst]

07:25 AM on 08/10/2009

I agree...I smell another big Bill Clinton humanitarian extravaganza...with book and movie deal....these "hikers" aren't imbeciles...they're media geniuses.

[loki]

02:07 AM on 08/10/2009

just why would anyone be leisurely hiking in a place that hates Americans and is in such war like conflict if beyond me. Unless they were there for a specific reason unknown to anyone in the public"??

[mikesw]

12:30 AM on 08/10/2009

Go hiking along the Iran-Iraq border ?

[JessWonderin]

11:15 PM on 08/09/2009

We have our quota of birthers, deathers and dipshyts here ALREADY . . . .

I say we let Cheney or Bush go over to do a "Clinton" . . . . . and maybe we can pay Iran to KEEP ALL of them . . . . .

[pctr]

10:42 PM on 08/09/2009

Has any of you done any research on the people who are detained in Iran? Does any one of you know anything about them or what they do? Are you just reacting to and trusting the news that comes your way, joining the blamefest and feeling superior? Look them up and find out what they do.

[hrholmes]

11:01 PM on 08/09/2009

Sarah Palin speech writers in search of the country of Africa?

[pctr]

11:12 PM on 08/09/2009

Very clever.. you've obviously studied research under Sarah Palin.

[pctr]

10:39 PM on 08/09/2009

Have any of you done any research on these people? Are any of you doing anything beside joining in on the blamefest?

It's easy to put someone down to make yourself look superior. Look them up and see what they do.

[hrholmes]

10:26 PM on 08/09/2009

Well first Iran has to determine they were not spies by keeping them for years of enhanced interogations without charges or legal representation, incommunicado incarceration. After they have been properly beaten, raped, tortured and confessed every crime ever committed by anyone we can talk about their release in say 6 or more years. If it's good enough for America.....

[kellygrrrl]

10:20 PM on 08/09/2009

uhm, helloooooooooo

[tacitus77]

09:42 PM on 08/09/2009

I agree with Obenauer. First of all who goes and vacations in a war torn country? And second, they were warned repeatedly not to go hiking in that area. I hope they're alright and that nothing happens to them, but I don't blame the Iranian government in the least bit for suspecting them of being spies. Their lack of common sense is unbelievable.

[hrholmes]

10:56 PM on 08/09/2009

Hey I know a great minefield in SE Asia.... maroons