Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) and Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani (L) listen to a speech by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a ceremony for Ahmadinejad's confirmation as Iran's President in Tehran August 3, 2009. [Agencies]

"This election was a test. People passed the test ... and some of the elites failed. This election made some (figures) the losers," state TV quoted Khamenei as saying.

More than 100 people, including many prominent reformist political figures, are facing trial for allegedly supporting the postelection unrest.

The Swiss Embassy in Tehran is trying to learn more about the Americans' fate through its contacts with the Iranian Foreign Ministry, spokeswoman Nadine Olivieri said Sunday. Switzerland represents US interests in Iran in the absence of American-Iranian diplomatic relations.

The three Americans were detained by Iranian border guards, the Kurdish regional government said. One American who was traveling with the group, Shon Meckfessel, sat out the hike because he had a cold, said his grandmother, Irene Meckfessel, from her home in Carmichael, California.

One of the missing Americans has been identified by Kurdish authorities as Joshua Fattal. His mother, Laura Fattal of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, issued a brief statement Sunday saying her only concern was for the welfare of her son and his two traveling companions.