Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, seemingly attempting to quell Western fears and concerns over the arrests of 13 Iranian Jews on the charge of spying, said he is responsible for the welfare of all religious minorities.

The British Broadcasting Corp. monitoring the Iranian state-run radio June 13 reported the statement.

The president "pointed to the freedom of all religions and minorities in the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and said that he was responsible for every single member of every religious persuasion who live in Iran," the BBC reported.

On June 9, Iranian officials announced that "13 spies who had been working for the Zionists have been arrested."

"These spies were arrested with the help of the noble people of the province in collaboration with Information Department Personnel," an Iranian official with the Information Department in Fars Province is reported as saying.

"The elements, who were identified and arrested, played a vital role in the espionage network and they were arrested on the orders of the court," he said, according to the Iran Republic News Agency (IRNA).

Jolted by news of the arrests, coalitions of Jewish and Christian organizations denounced the arrests and called for the immediate release of the prisoners.

In New York, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson at a press conference June 14 said he has reached out to religious and political leadership in Iran but his requests for a meeting have not yet been answered. He said he desires to travel to Iran to meet with the leadership there. He recently secured the release of three American soldiers captured by Serbian soldiers in the Kosovo war. The Rev. Jackson stopped short of saying whether or not his latest initiative has received the blessings of the White House.

Several days earlier, Rev. Jackson and stood in Los Angeles with families of those arrested in a meeting arranged by Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), who labeled the charges "trumped up" and called for the "immediate release of these innocent Jews."

Manouchehr Eliasi, the Jewish member of the Iranian Parliament representing Iran’s 27,000 member Jewish community, called for "true justice" in the case, adding that if the investigations prove them guilty, "they should be punished."

"But if the opposite was proved, they should be released immediately," he said. "This is the first time Jews have been arrested in Iran on charges of spying for the Zionist regime, and we hope such a thing is not true and they will be acquitted," he said.

"We have no links or contact to the Israeli government because we distinguish between Judaism and Zionism," he added.

The arrests have created more contention in the government in Iran as the new president has been making overtures to the west to improve relations.

The conservative newspaper Jomhuri-ye Eslami, a daily, said June 12 that "under the guise of trade, they were spying for the Mossad, and were mainly active in Shiraz, Isfahan (central Iran) and Tehran."

If convicted, the prisoners could be executed. The United States and Israel have denied connection with the 13 and called for their immediate release. Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel has asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to help secure the release of the prisoners.