Iran confirms detention of three Australians: Fars

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's judiciary on Tuesday confirmed the detention of three Australian citizens that had been announced last week by the Australian government, according to Iran's semi-official Fars news agency.

“Two of them had taken pictures in military areas and the third (was detained) for spying for a third country,” Fars quoted judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili as saying.

“The court will decide whether this person (detained for spying) is guilty or not.”

Esmaili did not identify the detained people and gave no details about when they had been arrested.

Australia's foreign ministry had said it was providing consular assistance to the families of three Australians detained in Iran after Britain's Times newspaper reported that two British-Australian women and the Australian boyfriend of one of them had been detained in Iran.

The newspaper did not identify the dual British-Australians at the request of the British Foreign Office and said the Australian government was taking the lead in both cases.

Britain said on Wednesday that it had raised concerns with the Iranian ambassador over the number of dual-nationality citizens detained in Iran and the conditions in which they were being held.