Iranian lawmaker says 'no rush' in hikers release

A senior Iranian lawmaker says the US should not "rush" for release of the three American hikers detained in Iran.

"The US violated the Vienna Convention and international regulations by arresting Iranian diplomats and keeping them in prison for a long time," the Head of the Parliament Commission on National Security and Foreign Policy Alaeddin Boroujerdi said, pointing to Iranian diplomats detained by US forces in 2007.

US forces raided Iran's consulate in Arbil in northern Iraq and detained five diplomats in January 2007.

"So the US should not rush for the release of the three hikers," Mehr news agency quoted Boroujerdi as saying on Thursday.

Joshua Felix Fattal, 27, along with Shane Michael Bauer, 27, and Sarah Emily Shourd, 31 were arrested in the western Iranian district of Marivan, at the Malakh-Khur border point on July 31 while they were hiking near Iran's border with Iraq.

The three were traveling on Syrian and Iraqi visas and crossed the Iranian officials illegally.

Their families say the three hikers have accidentally crossed the border when they were trekking in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region.

/Trend News/