NEW YORK: Iran urged the United States on Sunday to free eight Iranians as a "humanitarian gesture," while freed American hiker Sarah Shourd made an emotional plea for the release of two compatriots.

"Iran was the country that released Sarah. We haven`t even received a note from the United States on that," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad complained in the interview with ABC`s "This Week," calling Shourd`s release "a huge humanitarian act."

"It would not be misplaced to ask that the US government should take a humanitarian gesture to release the Iranians who were illegally arrested and detained here in the United States," he said Ahmadinejad.

Shourd, 32, arrived at Dulles International Airport outside Washington days after being released on 500,000 dollars bail by Iran, which is still holding two other American hikers, Shourd`s fiance Shane Bauer and friend Josh Fattal, more than a year after they were detained along with Shourd.

She later drove up to New York, where Ahmadinejad had earlier arrived ahead of the United Nations General Assembly summit.

Speaking to reporters in New York, Shourd said she was crushed not to be sharing her freedom with Bauer and Fattal.

"My disappointment at not sharing that moment with Shane and Josh was crushing. And I stand before you today only one third free," said Shourd at a press conference alongside her mother and the mothers of Bauer and Fattal.

"That was the last thing that Josh said to me before I walked through the prison doors. Josh and Shane felt one third free at that moment and so did I."

Shourd nevertheless refused to talk of the conditions in which she was held in Iran.

When asked in his interview with US television if Iran would respond to an appeal by the mothers of the two remaining American hikers for their release, Ahmadinejad said their cases were in the hands of the judiciary.

"They violated the law," he said. "Do you want violators to be released? Is that what you`re asking me?"

The mothers said they were "encouraged" that Shourd`s release might signal a step toward the release of their sons and said they had requested a meeting with the hardline Iranian president.

The three Americans were arrested inside Iran on July 31, 2009 after setting out on a hike from Iraqi Kurdistan.

They were accused of "spying and entering the country illegally," but the trio said they had inadvertently strayed across a rugged unmarked border.

Shourd strongly denied accusations they were spies.

"Shane and Josh do not deserve to be in prison one day longer than I was. We committed no crime and we are not spies. We in no way intended any harm to the Iranian government or its people and believe a huge misunderstanding led to our arrest and prolonged detention," she said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a separate interview on ABC, said she felt "great relief" at the announcement of Shourd`s release.

"I was so pleased that this young woman was able to come home," she said. "I want the other two young Americans -- Josh and Shane -- to come home as well."

Ahmadinejad did not elaborate in his interview on the identity of the eight Iranians he said were being held by the United States.

But in comments Friday to Iranian state television, the Iranian president referred to "several Iranians it (the United States) has caught in Thailand, Georgia and elsewhere, or inside the US for exporting certain goods."

Iranian media reports have said the United States is holding around a dozen Iranians in custody, with some detained in other countries at Washington`s request.

They apparently include a former deputy minister, Alireza Asgari, who went missing in Turkey three years ago.

BDST: 0826 HRS, September 20, 2010