The Associated Press
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Thursday that the United States is "deeply concerned about the Iranian announcement" of the charge against Roxana Saberi.
Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials. But an Iranian judge leveled a far more serious allegation on Wednesday, charging her with spying for the United States.
The new charge this week was a setback at a time when President Barack Obama has expressed a willingness to talk with Iran after many years of rocky relations under the previous U.S. administration.