U.S. will receive Shah as Head of State

Press, 18 January 1979, Page 6

U.S. will receive Shah as Head of State

NZPA-Reuter Washington The United States will wel-1 come the Shah of Iran as a Head of State when he 1 makes his expected United J States appearance — even though he may never return* to Teheran. The Under - Secretary of ! State (Mr David Newsom), 1 who directs a State Department task force which has 1 monitored the tension in ] Iran, said in a televised inter- • view on Tuesday night: i “Constitutionally, the Shah remains the monarch of Iran 1 even though he has appointed a Regency Council upon • his departure. And he will be received in that capacity.” The interviewer then ques- 1 tioned whether the possibil- ’ ity of the Shah settling in the United States might jeopardise future American re- 1 ’ lations with any new Gov-i] ernment in Iran. “We have no indication of] 1 that at this point,” Mr New- 1 som said. But Shariar Rouhani, ai< representative of the Shah’s main opponent, the exiled;: religious leader. Ayatollah;: Ruhollah Khomeiny, immed-' lately cast doubt on this. <

Interviewed on the same programme, Mr Rouhani said he expected a Khomeinybacked Government to be in power in Iran in a few days. This new Government would challenge United States residence for the Shah on the grounds that he was a criminal. Mr Rouhani said. Mr Rouhani said that while the Shah was expected eventually to come to the United States, he had bought a palace in Acapulco, Mexico. “He knows how to run away,” Mr Rouhani said. Mr Rouhani predicted that the newly installed Iranian Prime Minister (Dr Shapur Baktiar) would not last long because “he has no support whatsoever.” Mr Newsom hinted that ;the United States was ati tempting behind the scenes jto bring the two-week-old j i Baktiar Government and; ithe Khomeiny forces closer (together. ! “We are supporting the (civilian Government led by Prime Minister Baktiar.” he; I said. “To the extent that .t-| jsiders in a situation — where; lit is the people of the coun-| I try and its leaders who are

making the decisions — to the extent we can be helpful, we seek to be so.”

Asked whether this .eant the United States was trying to get the two sides together, he replied, “We are limited in what we can do in that way but we are trying.” A Defence Department spokesman said the United States had no plans to remove its military equipment from Iran. He also said the Pentagon was satisfied with the security of sophisticated United States equipment such as the Fl 4 fighter, sold to Iran.

“We remain satisfied with the security maintained over the equipment we sold to Iran,” he said. "As to ours, (Pentagon equipment), it remains in place.” He made a distinction.! however, between military equipment and any surveillance equipment United States intelligence agencies might run in Iran. He refused to comment on reports that (such intelligence equipment] | was being dismantled by] Ithe Central Intelligence; 1 Agency.