3 Americans arrested in Iran - Extreme Zionists or backpackers?

Israel may not be the only country where efforts to secure the release of a kidnapped citizen affect government policy. Just as former U.S. President Bill Clinton was in North Korea in a bid to negotiate the release of two American journalists, a similar series of events was taking shape in Iran.

Several days ago, Iran arrested three Americans who strayed across the border from Iraq on allegations they illegally entered the country, and a lawmaker said Tuesday that authorities were deciding whether they will be accused of spying.

Officials in northern Iraq's Kurdish region said Sunday that the three - Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal - were tourists who inadvertently crossed into Iran on July 31 while hiking in the region. Friends and family say the three were adventurous travelers who accidentally stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters that the U.S. was "worried" and called on the Iranian government to provide updates regarding the status of the three backpackers.

However, two days ago, when the Kurds gave Iran details regarding the three, things got complicated. An Iranian television channel reported that the three were not backpackers, but rather "Jewish reporters" ? and even called one of them an "extreme Zionist."

Bauer, a California resident, reportedly writes for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Christian Science Monitor, The Nation and New American Media. Shourd, Bauer's partner, writes for the Website Matador.

There was some confusion in Iran over the identity of Josh Fattal, who they confused with a man by the same name who studies in New York City.

Fattal told "Haaretz" Wednesday that he studies in the Jewish School, he's in NY and he is fine, and that he is certainly not the backpacker detained in Iran.

The Kurds said that two of them were studying Arabic in Damascus.

As devoted travelers, the three habitually wrote about Middle East issues as freelancers.

Despite U.S. President Barack Obama's repeated calls on Iran to accept his invitation for dialogue, the two nations have had no formal diplomatic relations since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Swiss diplomats, representing American interests in Tehran, have tried to gain access to the three detainees.

Deputy Secretary of State Philip Crowley said Monday that the U.S. was making every effort to understand what happened and to bring them home as quickly as possible.

Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood said later the same day that he had heard nothing about any charges of the three being spies, and said such reports were not credible.