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WASHINGTON, May 27 (Reuters) - Freed U.S.-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi thanked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in person on Wednesday for pressing Iran to release her from a Tehran jail where she was held on charges of spying.

With her parents and Clinton at her side, Saberi said efforts by the top U.S. diplomat and others sustained her during her incarceration at Tehran's Evin prison until she was released on May 11.

"When I found out that I had the support while I was in prison, I gained a lot of strength and hope. I did not feel so alone any more," Saberi told reporters at the State Department.

Saberi's case added to strains in U.S.-Iranian relations at a time when the Obama administration was seeking to reach out to Tehran after more than three decades of mistrust. So far, those efforts have not born fruit.

In March, Clinton's staff broke with usual diplomatic isolation of Iran at a conference in The Hague and directly passed on a letter to Tehran's delegation, urging Saberi's freedom on humanitarian grounds.

The two countries, at loggerheads on a range of issues, do not have direct diplomatic ties and most dealings are done via Swiss intermediaries who represent U.S. interests.

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