Detained Iranian-Americans appear in Tehran broadcast

Esfandiari, 67, appeared first, describing her activities as director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, based in Washington. She has been held largely incommunicado since May except for brief telephone conversations with her mother, whom she was visiting before her detention.

"The aim of the Iran program was to plan sessions of lectures," she said. "When people came to the US for lectures, policy makers listened to their lectures . . . and a network was formed."

It was not clear whether the broadcast signaled any impending change in the cases of Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant detained since mid-May.

British sailors detained for two weeks for allegedly entering Iranian waters were freed in April after appearing in videos in which they "admitted" trespassing. Other people have been jailed for long periods even after their purported confessions were broadcast.

Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh have been accused of endangering Iran's national security, and Iran announced this month that fresh evidence had pushed its judiciary to further investigate their cases. Two other Iranian-Americans, journalist Parnaz Azima and peace activist Ali Shakeri, also are being detained on national security charges.

Esfandiari's daughter, Haleh Bakhash, characterized the TV program as propaganda, saying her mother's statements did not appear to amount to a confession of wrongdoing.

"She didn't say anything even remotely incriminating. She just talked about her job," said Bakhash, a Washington resident who has not seen her mother since they went to Iran in December.

Clips promoting the program with Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh, described as a documentary titled "In the Name of Democracy," had been shown on state TV since Monday.

Iranian state television said a second episode would be broadcast today.

Esfandiari said on the program that she had attended meetings at the University of California at Los Angeles attended by US and Israeli officials.

"Some of them were former intelligence officers," she said.

The United States has "allocated a budget to create a change in decision-making bodies in Iran," she said. "It means change from the inside."

Appearing separately, Tajbakhsh, a 45-year-old urban planning consultant with George Soros's New York-based Open Society Institute, explained his purpose for visiting Iran.

He said the institute financed Iranian university libraries.