Iran allowed the entry of the mothers of three American nationals to visit their children.

The meeting took place at a north Tehran hotel on Friday during which the relatives of abducted Iranians sat down with Nora Shourd, Laura Fattal, and Cindy Hickey, for a friendly talk.

Iranian officials say relatives of the five kidnapped Iranian diplomats were not granted an opportunity to meet with their loved ones under similar circumstances after the US military raided an Iranian consulate in Erbil, north Iraq, in January 2007.

US authorities released the Iranian diplomats in July 2009 after keeping them for two and a half years in custody.

Joshua Felix Fattal, 27, along with Shane Michael Bauer, 27, and Sarah Emily Shourd, 31 were arrested in the western Iranian district of Marivan, at the Malakh-Khur border point on July 31 for crossing Iran's borders with Iraq illegally.

They were later charged with espionage by Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said last week that it had issued week-long visas for the mothers of the three to meet their children in Iran.

Iran says the decision has been made in accordance with Islamic teachings and on a humanitarian basis.