Iran has released on Saturday after four months of custody, two German journalists who left for Germany on Sunday night with Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle came specially to find them.
During his visit of several hours, the first by a minister of the EU in Iran for several years, Westerwelle was received by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held talks with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi.
Mr Ahmadinejad also drew attention with Westerwelle "regional issues, the situation in Afghanistan and the need for cooperation against terrorism and drug trafficking," the Iranian presidency website.
During a brief joint press conference with Mr. Salehi, M.Westerwelle said the meeting between the two ministers had allowed "an" exchange of views and opinions, "the direct translation made by the Iranian television channel Press-TV in English.
"It was a meeting to get acquainted," he said, adding she had "not been time to discuss major issues."
Salehi for his part said that the visit of Mr. Westerwelle Tehran was to "strengthen bilateral relations" and that the two ministers had "agreed to further meetings already planned in the future."
He expressed the desire of Iran to "look to the future" in its relations with Germany, saying the two countries had "many issues to discuss."
Iran has been subjected since 2007 to severe political and economic sanctions imposed by the EU because of its controversial nuclear program, which prohibit particular high-level bilateral contacts with Tehran.
Westerwelle departed for Germany immediately after the talks, about 2:00 local Sunday (2230 GMT Saturday) with the two journalists released, Marcus Hellwig, Jens Koch, the newspaper Bild am Sonntag (BAMS).
The two Germans held in Tabriz (northwest) since October 10, 2010, arrived by plane to Tehran in early evening."No comment," replied one of them to journalists who asked them questions.
Before their release, they were each sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 20 months which was immediately converted to a fine of 500 million rials (50,000 dollars), according to the judicial authority who said they were convinced "crime against national security".
The two journalists were arrested in Tabriz while interviewing the son and attorney-Ashtiani Sakineh Mohammadi, an Iranian woman sentenced to stoning in a case of murder and adultery and for which the international community 's is mobilized.
The Iranian authorities accused them of being entered Iran with tourist visas, without asking permission and special press visa that foreign journalists must obtain in order to work in Iran.
The Iranian Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, imprisoned in Tabriz, was sentenced to death by two courts in 2006 for his involvement in the murder of her husband and adulterers. His murder conviction was reduced to 10 years in prison on appeal in 2007 but his sentence of stoning for adultery was upheld by another court of appeal. The court decided to review his case and has not yet delivered its final verdict.
