Australian travel-blogging couple held in Iran released — Canberra

SYDNEY — An Australian travel-blogging couple who were last month revealed to be detained in Iran have been released, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Saturday.

Perth-based Jolie King and Mark Firkin had been documenting their journey from Australia to Britain on social media for the past two years but went silent after posting updates from Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan about three months ago.

Following "very sensitive negotiations" with authorities in Tehran the couple have been released, Payne said Saturday.

"They are being returned to Australia and they will be reunited with their family," she told reporters in Sydney.

"They are in good spirits and they are in good health," she added.

But the fate of Melbourne University Academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a third Australian identified last month as detained in Iran, remains "complex" and "ongoing", Payne said.

"She has been detained for some considerable time and has faced the Iranian legal system and has been convicted and sentenced," the foreign minister said.

"We don't accept the charges on which she was convicted and we would seek to have her returned to Australia," Payne added, denying to comment further.