[truck]

Well, intelligence agencies are also collecting reports from the likes of journalists for example and Saberi WAS working as a journalist without beeing formally accredited in Iran, if I remember correctly. So the spying charge might not be as absurd as you make it to be. And what business these hikers really had climbing around in the disputed border area of a conflict zone I don´t think is completely clear either, since all sides concerned may have a motive to lie.

I would be more surprised to learn that western powers didn't have people working for them in Iran. However, if you want an effective spy in Iran, you would find an Iranian who's sympathetic to the west. Sending three Americans to cross a heavily patrolled border is a pretty ridiculous way to send spies in. Sending an American contractor in while we're supporting a country Iran is at war with is also a pretty ridiculous way to get a spy in.
The majority of western spies are not caught on a regular base though, I suppose........ Right, and it's pretty unusual that Iran seems to find a spy every other year. Sort of like North Korea.

Speaking of which (and not to get off topic), I'm wondering where jviehe's outrage is over the American who's currently serving eight years of hard labor in North Korea...

Aijalon Mahli Gomes, from Boston, attempted to kill himself and was being treated at a hospital, according to North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.

According to the news agency, the attempt was "driven by his strong guilty conscience" and despair that the US government has not tried to gain his freedom. American held in North Korea attempts suicide - Telegraph