Ahmadinejad cancels UN press conference, as families of detained Americans seek to meet him

The United Nations public affairs office informs that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has cancelled a press conference scheduled for 3pm today.

Meantime, the mothers of three American hikers detained in Iran for the past nine months without charge are trying to get a meeting with the Iranian leader, as is Christine Levinson, the wife of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson who went missing after a meeting on Kish Island in March 2007.

U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Al Franken (D-MN) are holding press conference at 1130am today to urge Ahmadinejad to release the three hikers.