Politics

State Department Calls Iranian Espionage Charges Against Reporter "Baseless"

By Brent Lang

April 9, 2009 / 1:54 PM EDT / CBS News

(AP Photo/NPPA)

The U.S. State Department today called Iranian charges of espionage filed against American journalist Roxana Saberi "baseless." The strongly worded rebuke comes a day after the United States announced it would join other nations in talks to encourage Iran to abandon its nuclear program, part of a larger shift in American foreign policy toward more direct engagement with the Middle Eastern country.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood claimed that the accusations were "without foundation" and said that the U.S. was "deeply concerned about the Iranian announcement,'' the Associated Press reports.

Saberi, a dual Iran/U.S. citizen, was arrested by the Iranian police in late January. She was initially charged with working without press credentials, but this week an Iranian judge made new allegations about the 31-year-old freelance journalist. Born in the United States and raised in Fargo, North Dakota, Saberi has been living in Iran for the past six years while filing stories for the BBC, NPR, and Fox. She was working on a book about the country and planned to return to the states this year, her father Reza Saberi told reporters.

Yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed for Saberi's release in a news conference at the State Department.

"I will, as will the rest of the department, continue to follow this very closely and we wish for her speedy release and return to her family," said Clinton, according to a Reuters report.