WASHINGTON: The US last night called on Iran to immediately release jailed Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, saying it was very concerned over her situation. Iran's judiciary said that Saberi went on trial on charges of spying for the US, charges State Department spokesman Robert Wood said were "baseless" and "without foundation".
Saberi has reported for the BBC, National Public Radio and other media.
Her case coincides with talk of a possible thaw in US-Iranian ties after US President Barack Obama offered a new beginning if Tehran "unclenches its fist".
Judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said Saberi's trial started on Monday in a Revolutionary Court, which handles state security matters.
"I think the verdict will be announced soon, perhaps in the next two or three weeks," he said.
"Her charge was spying for foreigners ... She had spied for the US."
Under Iran's penal code, espionage can carry the death penalty. The Islamic Republic last year executed an Iranian businessman convicted of spying on the military for Israel.
Saberi, 31, is a citizen of both the US and Iran but Tehran does not recognise dual nationality. It announced the espionage charges against her last week.
Jamshidi said Saberi, a freelance reporter who was born in the US, had submitted the last defence arguments in her case. She was arrested in late January for working in Iran after her Press credentials had expired.
Saberi's lawyer was not available for comment.
Her parents visited her in Tehran's Evin jail on April 6, after arriving from the US.
Evin is a jail where rights groups say political prisoners are usually taken.
Washington cut ties with Iran shortly after the Islamic revolution in 1979 but Obama's administration is trying to reach out to Tehran following three decades of mutual mistrust.
Iran says it wants to see a real switch in Washington's policies away from those of former president George W Bush, who led a drive to isolate the country because of nuclear work the West suspects has military aims, a charge Iran denies.
On Monday, Iran said it would welcome dialogue with six world powers, including the US, which had invited Iran to a meeting on the long-running nuclear row.
In another case that has caused concern in the West, Jamshidi said a higher court had upheld a three-year jail sentence against Silva Harotonian.
A diplomatic source said Harotonian was an Iranian citizen who worked for a US-based non-governmental organisation in Armenia and was detained while visiting Iran in 2008.
She was accused of involvement in a US-funded plot to overthrow its Islamic system of government, along with two Iranian doctors who were jailed for three and six years.
