Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast at a press conference refuted the alleged exchange of Shahram Amiri, the Iranian citizen, who is under arrest in the U.S., for the U.S. citizens detained in Iran, Fars News Agency reported.
According to Mehmanparast, trial on three U.S. citizens will continue.
The Iranian nuclear physicist Amiri, who worked in the nuclear field, went missing during a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in June 2009.
Joshua Felix Fattal, 27, along with Shane Michael Bauer, 27, and Sarah Emily Shourd, 31 were arrested in the western Iranian district of Marivan, at the Malakh-Khur border point on July 31 while they were hiking near Iran's border with Iraq. The three were traveling on Syrian and Iraqi visas and crossed the Iranian officials illegally.
Earlier, Iran's Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi said that the detained U.S. citizens can be exchanged for Iranian nationals who are under arrest in the U.S. In late May, the Iranian authorities gave permission to mothers of the arrested Americans to see their children.