U.S. prepares for Shah’s fall

Press, 30 December 1978, Page 8

U.S. prepares for Shah’s fall

International

iZPA Washington The deepening crisis in ran has prompted the Carer Administration to draw ip a wide range of continjency plans which Governnent’ officials have said in- 1 tlude the possible dispatch if a United States carrier ask force to the Persian >ult. The officials said Presilent Jimmy Carter had not nade a final decision on vhether to order an aircraft tarrier into the Gulf, but hey disclosed that this was >ne of several options under, ionsideration as the situttion in Iran worsened. However, the officials said a jecision to send a taval iquadron near or into the suif would not be designed if) prop the rule of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, jut to signal American opposition to any possible stove by the Soviet Union to ntervene in the crisis. In addition to considering deployment of a naval force, officials said other contingency planning was under ivay for possible removal or destruction of advanced military hardware held by the Iranian armed forces, the dismantling of sensitive electronic listening posts direct- I rd toward the Soviet Union, end the evacuation of the 55.000 Americans living in the country. Although most of these plans would not be carried nut unless the situation in Iran deteriorated to near

anarchy, officials said the dispatch of United States ! warships was an option that i could be carried out in the i immediate future. While officials said theii primary purpose of a show ; of gunboat diplomacy in theji region would be to warn Moscow from interfering in Iran, they also acknowledged I that such a move would al-ii lay the fears of pro-Western countries in the region, such i as Saudi Arabia, who have ’ complained that the United States has not shown sufficient concern over Soviet : advances in the area. Some officials expressed doubts over whether Mr Car-} ter would actually send a : naval task force into the Gulf and said reporters may have been told about rhe contingency plan to publicise the Administration’s I growing concern over they possibility of Soviet inter-;. vention in the crisis. This was hotly disputed by other officials, who said;: that in recent weeks Mos- 1 ; i cow has stepped up its ef-i forts, in press reports and ] news broadcasts, to criticise)' ) the Shah and American at- i tempts to offer him support. I White House officials ) : were angered by a statement in late November by Presi- 1 dent Leonid Brezhnev that : 1 warned the United States against interfering i Iran. In a press conference on De- , cember 13, Mr Carter said the United States had no intention of interfering in the

internal affairs of Iran and < had no intention of per- I mitting others to interfere in! i the internal affairs of Iran. I In a comment which offi-’i Icials said later was directly < aimed at Moscow’s state- > ments about the Iranian ' crisis, Mr Carter said the di- i fficult situation there had been exacerbated by uncon- J trolled statements made! l from foreign nations that' 1 encourage bloodbaths and violence. 1 Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the State Depart- : ment spokesman (Mr): Hodding Carter) said recent h Soviet charges that the I Administration had sent a special group to Iran to kee. the Shah in power: were false. At this point,! false reports by the Soviet, j Union were clearly unhelpful ) at a time when there was a) ! need to calm the passions) and not excite them. h Besides the growing volume of Soviet propaganda! against the Shah, officials): disclosed no other move by)l Moscow that might have j i prompted the White House)l ) to consider ordering a car-;1 rier into the gulf. Earlier) I this week, it was reported) t that several high altitude So-;i viet fighters had flown into: I Iranian air pac-, on recon-h naissance missions, but a) I Pentagon official said there ' was no evidence to support Ij tfis claim. ; Although the idea of using naval forces to symbolise !

American support for the;: Shah had evidently' been)' under discussion for several : I weeks, officials said it had) jnot been seriously consid-) ered until this week. They ■said the move would not bej designed specifically to in!fluence the course of events): in Iran, and Mr Carter fully) 1 backed the Shah’s attempt to) )form a new government of), national reconciliation which) would include elements of) his Opposition. At the same time, they) said the option of a naval show of force, together with): !other contingency plans, reflected the degree to which! the Administration had* begun to plan for other, 1 I worst-case outcomes, in-) eluding the possible ousting; ,of the Shah and either the) formation of a Leftist, antiAmerican government or a; period of near political; ! anarchy. The main responsibility ; for the preparation of con- ’ tingency plans, officials said, I j had been turned over to a ; new 30-member interagency ) task force headed by David i ; Newsom, the Under-Secre- ) tary for Political Affairs in I ithe State Department. The) 1 group, which met for the!, first time on Wednesday, l (was scheduled to meet regu-: 1 ; larly to co-ordinate action): on the huge number of prob-) lems that the Iranian crisis! had spawned for the Carter) Administration. Although a high-ranking State Department aide said!'

the group's recommendations would go to the Secretary of State (Mr Cyrus Vance) ! other officials said that so far, the Administration’s policy in the Iranian crisis had ’been dominated by Zbigniew Brzezinksi, Mr Carter’s national security assistant. Dr Brzezinksi is said to have prevailed in urging Carter to continue to express complete support for the Shah and in turning down State Department advice calling for a more evenhanded policy between the monarch and his opponents. Among the contingency .plans now being formulated 'within the Government is a proposal by the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of State for j seizing or destroying the bil- ) lions of dollars worth of adIvanced military hardware I that has been shipped in re)cent years to Iran from the United States. In particular, senior military officers are said to have worked out a plan for removing the 80 Fl 4 jets sold to Iran by the Nixon Administration, which are considered to be the most sophisticated fighter planes in the world. At the same time, the Cen-» tral Intelligence Agency is! said to be taking steps to! ensure that in the event of a [total collapse in Iran sensitive electronic devices used, to monitor Soviet missile tests do not end up in the) wrong hands.