Charges filed against 3 Iranian-Americans

Iran’s judiciary spokesman said Tuesday that U.S. academic Haleh Esfandiari and two other Iranian-Americans had been "formally charged" with endangering national security and espionage.

"Esfandiari has been formally charged with endangering national security through propaganda against the system and espionage for foreigners," Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters. "She has been informed of the charges against her. The complainant is the Intelligence Ministry."

Jamshidi did not say when the specific allegations had been read to Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. She has been held at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since early May.

Jamshidi said the same charges had also been lodged against Kian Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant who has also worked for the World Bank, and journalist Parnaz Azima. No trial date has been announced and Jamshidi said the investigation against all three is continuing.