The American woman held in Iran says she and her buddies are not spies

An American woman who was held in Iran for greater than 13 months and accused of espionage stated Sunday she and two males detained together with her in no way spied or committed any crime, calling their arrest "a substantial misunderstanding."

Discussing her experience for the first time due to the fact her release Tuesday, Sarah Shourd underscored her gratitude at being unveiled but stated she felt only "one-third free" mainly because her fiance, Shane Bauer, and their pal Josh Fattal stay in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.

"This is just not the time to celebrate," Shourd, 32, stated in ready remarks for a new York information convention. "The only factor that enabled me to cross the gulf from prison to freedom alone was the know-how that Shane and Josh wished with all their hearts for my suffering to finish."

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Ny to attend the U.N. Common Assembly. He later met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to focus on developments in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East as nicely as efforts to resolve the dispute more than Iran's nuclear plan, the U.N. spokesperson's office stated.

He named Shourd's release "a substantial humanitarian gesture" in an job interview on "This Week with Christiane Amanpour." He named on the U.S. to release 8 Iranians being detained after arrests he stated have been illegal.

Shourd thanked Iranians and Ahmadinejad within a very carefully scripted return that spoke to your continuing delicacy of her situation. Iran has issued espionage-related indictments towards her, Bauer and Fattal; the indictments could carry trials for the two males and proceedings in absentia for Shourd.

But she stressed their innocence within a situation that has added to your roster of tensions among the U.S. and Iran.

The 3 have been detained in July 2009 after Iranian officers stated they intentionally crossed the country's border from Iraq. Echoing accounts their households have provided in their absence, Shourd stated

Sunday that the 3 had been mountaineering within a well-liked tourist place -- close a waterfall in Iraq's Kurdistan area -- and had no thought the border was nearby.

"If we have been without a doubt close the Iraq-Iran border, that border was totally unmarked and indistinguishable," she stated.

"Shane and Josh will not deserve to get in prison a single day longer than I was," she stated. "We committed no crime and we aren't spies. We in no way supposed any hurt to your Iranian government or its folks and consider a large misunderstanding led to our arrest and prolonged detention."

Shourd's mom has stated she had health difficulties together with a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells. Shourd stated Sunday that health professionals in Oman, the place she went instantly after her release, had determined she was physically nicely.

Officers in Oman -- an ally of the two Iran and the United States -- mediated a $500,000 bail for Shourd that happy Iranian authorities and apparently did not violate U.S. economic sanctions towards Iran. The supply from the bail payment hasn't been disclosed.

Shourd and Bauer had been living collectively in Damascus, Syria, the place Bauer was working as a freelance journalist and Shourd as an English teacher. Fattal, an environmental activist along with a fellow graduate from the University of California at Berkeley, arrived to pay a visit to them final July, and the 3 went mountaineering.

"My hope is the fact that by finding out who we are and how we arrived to get on this various and fascinating area from the world instantly from my lips, it's going to aid clear up any doubts and finish Shane and Josh's detention," Shourd stated.

She added that she hoped their experience would present "an opportunity for Americans and Iranians to comprehend that an improved partnership could be in the ideal curiosity of all folks."
Ahmadinejad gave no specifics in his job interview with Amanpour about regardless of whether Bauer and Fattal might also be unveiled, saying "the scenarios need to be examined." foxnews