Iran has acknowledged for the first time that it is holding three Australian nationals, including two with joint British nationality, on suspicion of spying.
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The semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili as saying the three had been charged in two separate cases.
He said two people, British-Australian blogger Jolie King and her boyfriend Mark Firkin, had been detained for using a drone to take pictures and video of military areas and other unauthorised zones.
He said the third, believed to be Cambridge-educated academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert from the University of Melbourne, faces charges of spying for another country.
She has reportedly been sentenced to a 10-year jail term at Tehran's notorious Evin prison.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has raised the imprisonment of the three Australians with her Iranian counterpart several times, as diplomats continue to work behind the scenes to try and secure their release.
Australian Associated Press
