An Irishman is understood to be among a number of tourists kidnapped by drug dealers in Iran.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed this afternoon it had been contacted by the Iranian authorities in relation to the matter.
Earlier Iranian government sources said armed drug runners had abducted one Irish and two German tourists who were on a cycling trip in southeast Iran.
The kidnappers have demanded €5 million for their release, officials said. The sources, who declined to be named, said the kidnapping took place last week in Sistan-Baluchestan province close to Iran's borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"They were travelling on bicycles on the road between [the cities of] Bam and Zahedan when the smugglers kidnapped them," one of the sources said. They declined to say what efforts were being made for the hostages' release.
Irish embassy officials in Tehran could not immediately be reached for comment.
Sistan-Baluchestan province is a major smuggling route used by well-armed drug runners moving opium from Afghanistan to western Europe. Kidnapping of Westerners is rare in Iran, which has been trying to promote itself as a tourist destination in recent years.
There was a spate of kidnappings in southern Iran in 1999 when drug traffickers seized 10 Europeans in three separate incidents. All the hostages were eventually freed unharmed and three of the convicted kidnappers were executed at public hangings in 2001.