The United States said it had no information to confirm that Iran detained an American citizen on spying charges.

“We have no information to corroborate this alleged incident,” Spokesman for State Department Philip Crowley told a briefing on January 7, referring to the report that a U.S. woman was detained by Iran.

“Neither Iran nor Armenia reports having any record of a US citizen crossing or attempting to cross the Iran-Armenia border as indicated in media accounts,” Crowley said.

As NEWS.am reported previously, Iranian officials had arrested a 55-year-old American woman on spying charges after she tried to enter the country from Armenia “with spying equipment in her teeth.”

Hall Talayan, 55, was held as she tried to cross the border from Armenia without a visa, the report said.

According to another report, she told customs officers that the security forces of Armenia would kill her if she was sent back by Iran.