Jordan asks Iran to release 3 jailed nationals

AMMAN: Jordan on Monday called on Iran to release three of its nationals it said had strayed into Iranian territorial waters in the southern Gulf from the United Arab Emirates last December.

Jordan´s parliament speaker Atef al-Tarawneh raised the case of the three Jordanians in a meeting with Iran´s ambassador to Amman, Mojtaba Ferdosipour, the official news agency Petra said.

It said the ambassador had given assurances the case would be resolved "in the coming days". The foreign ministry said last month that the Jordanians accompanied by Emirati and Egyptian friends had entered Iranian waters "by mistake" during a boat trip on December 27. Iran had said at the time the Jordanians would be tried and fined in the coastal city of Bandar Lengeh, but without giving a date, according to a ministry spokesman.