US woman held in Iran ‘with spy equipment in teeth’

TEHRAN – Iranian officials have arrested an American woman on spying charges after she tried to enter the country from Armenia “with spying equipment in her teeth,” Fars news agency reported on Thursday.
“About a week ago an American spy woman whose name is said to be Hal Talayan was arrested by customs officials at Nordouz” border area in East Azarbaijan province, Fars said, quoting an unnamed source. “The 55-year-old American woman was arrested while she had entered Iran from Armenia without a visa and had placed spying equipment in her teeth,” the report said, without elaborating.
“This American spy said after arrest that she would be killed by Armenian security forces if Iran handed her over,” the report said. There has been no official confirmation of the arrest which was first reported on Wednesday by a little known conservative news website Nasimonline.ir, without naming any sources. Its unsourced, unconfirmed report was carried by several Iranian newspapers Thursday morning. If confirmed, the woman will be the fourth American arrested by Iran on spying charges along with hikers Sarah Shourd, 32, Shane Bauer, 28 and Josh Fattal, 28.
The three insist they innocently strayed across the border when they were detained on July 31, 2009 during a hiking excursion in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
While Shourd was released on humanitarian grounds, Iranian authorities have not dropped the case against her and officials have set February 6 as a trial date for all three hikers. The trial date coincides with the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution and the fall of the US-backed shah’s regime – when anti-American rhetoric traditionally reaches a climax.
Iran is also detaining two German journalists after they were arrested in October while interviewing the son of a woman condemned to death by stoning. Iran says the Germans entered the country on tourist visas and failed to obtain the necessary accreditation for journalists from the authorities before “posing as reporters” when they contacted Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s family.