MINNEAPOLIS—The mother of one of the three Americans held for more than six months in Iran says she hopes their plight doesn’t get wrapped up in the tension surrounding the U.S.-Iran relationship.
Cindy Hickey of Pine City, Minn., was responding Wednesday to reports a day earlier of a swap proposed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE’-neh-zhahd).
He suggested that Iranians in U.S. prisons could be exchanged for Hickey’s son, Shane Bauer, and his friends Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal.
Their families allege the three were on a harmless hike along the Iran-Iraq border in late July when they were taken into custody. Hickey says it’s been difficult to know what’s accurate in reports out of Iran. She says the three should not get pulled into other disputes between the two countries.
A White House spokesman said Tuesday there have been no talks with Iran over a possible exchange.
