Iran says American woman detained on spy charges

Iranian authorities have detained a 55-year-old American woman on spying charges, local media reported Thursday.

The state-owned newspaper IRAN said the woman had spying equipment hidden on her body when customs authorities detained her in the border town of Nordouz, 370 miles (600 kilometers) northwest of the capital Tehran. The report said she arrived in Iran from neighboring Armenia without a visa.

The paper identified the woman in Farsi as Hal Talaian and said she was found to have "a microphone" between her teeth. It did not say when she was detained.

But Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency quoted an unnamed official as saying the woman was taken into custody "about one week ago."

Armenian authorities had no immediate comment on the reported arrest. The U.S. Embassy in Armenia’s capital Yerevan was closed for the Orthodox Christmas and officials could not be reached.

If the woman’s arrest is confirmed, she would be the fourth American Iran has detained and accused of spying in less than two years.