"The Omanis pledged to continue to help with the release of the two hikers, and we're very grateful for their efforts," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
He said U.S. officials are staying in "close touch" with the Omanis and with the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which represents U.S. interests in Iran, but referred questions about the details to Oman's government.
Hikers Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd were arrested after straying across the unmarked border separating Iran from Iraq's Kurdistan region in July 2009. Shourd was released on humanitarian grounds September 14 after Omani authorities posted $500,000 bail, but Bauer and Fattal remain in Prison on accusations of spying.
Iran's Foreign Ministry downplayed the Omani visit, according to remarks on the ministry's website.
"Many delegations come to Iran from many countries, and Iranian delegations visit other countries as well," ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. "These visits are signs of friendly relations between countries."
Shourd met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday while he was in New York to attend the United Nations. She told CNN's "American Morning" that she wanted to make a personal appeal for the freedom of Fattal and Bauer, her fiance.
"I have no animosity towards him or the government," she said. "I want it to be resolved. I want it to be finished."
Controversy :
what has happened in this issue is not a new one , on 23 March 2007 15 British Royal Navy were arrested by Revolutionary Guards accused of passing the Iran's territorial waters , on the 4 April and after 14 days being in detain Mahmood Ahmadinejad the president of Iran in a press conference declared that the navies will be released , finally they had been given gifts and presents and freed .
The matter was going to be a real crisis between Iran and Britain but they solved the problem.
One of them ( Faye Turner ) sold her memoires to THE SUN - a very famous tabloid - as 50000 pounds.
Although the three hikers were not militaries it seems as if we can predict the end of the story .
At the begining Iran's government accused them of espionage and announced they are going to be on trial because of that, after one year there were a rumor that the President of Iran will take them with himself to New York - because of the UN summit - but Mr Jafari Dolatabadi ( the prosecuting auttorney ) denied , just two days after that one of them -Sarah Shourd - freed and came back home.
Contradiction decisions can be problematic , we must notice to our national concerns .
Releasing the americans could be a good opportunity to give the world a new aspect of Iran and consequently it was a way to improve our relationship with the United States but at this time the issue of the hikers is not important anymore.
what has happened in this issue is not a new one , on 23 March 2007 15 British Royal Navy were arrested by Revolutionary Guards accused of passing the Iran's territorial waters , on the 4 April and after 14 days being in detain Mahmood Ahmadinejad the president of Iran in a press conference declared that the navies will be released , finally they had been given gifts and presents and freed .
The matter was going to be a real crisis between Iran and Britain but they solved the problem.
One of them ( Faye Turner ) sold her memoires to THE SUN - a very famous tabloid - as 50000 pounds.
Although the three hikers were not militaries it seems as if we can predict the end of the story .
At the begining Iran's government accused them of espionage and announced they are going to be on trial because of that, after one year there were a rumor that the President of Iran will take them with himself to New York - because of the UN summit - but Mr Jafari Dolatabadi ( the prosecuting auttorney ) denied , just two days after that one of them -Sarah Shourd - freed and came back home.
Contradiction decisions can be problematic , we must notice to our national concerns .
Releasing the americans could be a good opportunity to give the world a new aspect of Iran and consequently it was a way to improve our relationship with the United States but at this time the issue of the hikers is not important anymore.
