Three Americans hiking in the mountains that form the border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran have reportedly been arrested by Iranian security forces.
Iranian state television claimed that the two men and a woman were US military personnel but an American friend travelling with them said they were tourists, who found themselves surrounded by Iranian troops during a trek.
A senior official from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq said that the three had been warned not to hike in the mountains where they were arrested
He named the three as Shane Bower, Sara Short and Joshua Steel, saying Shaun Gabriel Maxwell stayed behind in their hotel in the autonomous region's second largest city of Sulaimaniyah.
A spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Baghdad said: "We've seen the reports and are looking into it but can't confirm anything at this time."
Iranian state television, without quoting a source, said on a Saturday news bulletin that three US military personnel had gone missing near the border.
"Three US military personnel went missing in an area bordering Iran-Iraq," the announcer said. "The reason for the presence of these American soldiers is not known. The western media, in the past few days, extensively propogated that these three US personnel have been kidnapped."
--An official at the Pentagon said that no US military personnel were involved and the State Department said it was investigating the reports.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne … order.html
What's the implications of this then? Firstly it seems like an avoidable situation seeing as they were told not to go there. And now it might turn into quite a big deal for the US. Iran always likes it when it has prisoners and hostages to parade around, another sticky situation, I wonder if it'll go as far as Obama getting involved
