Iran state TV confirmed Saturday that it has arrested three Americans who crossed the border from northern Iraq, saying the detainees failed to heed warnings from Iranian guards. According to the AP, Kurdish officials said the three — two men and a woman — were tourists who had mistakenly crossed into Iran Friday.
"The Iranians said they have arrested them because they entered their land without legal permission," said Qubad Talabani, the Kurdish regional government's envoy to Washington.
Iran's state owned Arabic-language al-Alam TV station quoted a "well-informed source" in the Interior Ministry that the three Americans were arrested Friday after crossing into Iran's Kurdistan province. The report said the Americans were detained after they did not heed warnings from Iranian border guards.
The Americans had traveled with a companion to Turkey, then entered the Kurdish region Tuesday through the border crossing at Zakho, an official said. They visited the Kurdish cities of Irbil and Sulaimaniyah on Wednesday. The next day, three of them took a taxi to Ahmed Awaa, a Kurdish security official said. The three were last heard from after they contacted a friend saying they had entered Iran by mistake.
