A senior prosecutor has said that Iran is ready to release Sarah Shourd, one of three US hikers held for more than a year and accused of spying, on bail of around $500,000 (€393,000).
'For the female defendant, bail has been set at five billion Iranian rials', the official IRNA news agency quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying.
'She can be freed by posting the bail... Her lawyer has been informed.'
Ms Shourd was arrested with fellow hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal on 31 July 2009 after straying across the border from neighbouring Iraq.
The three have been accused of illegally entering the Islamic republic and of spying.
Mr Dolatabadi said that there were 'enough reasons to accuse the three of espionage.'
'The case is nearly complete and the judge has issued an indictment for the three Americans accused of spying,' he said, adding that Mr Bauer and Mr Fattal had been remanded in custody.
Several Iranian officials had said on Thursday that Ms Shourd would be released on Saturday. But legal technicalities delayed her release, Mr Dolatabadi said on Friday.
