Iranian action an act of war — Senator

Press, 29 November 1979, Page 3

Iranian action an act of war — Senator

Official Iranian approval 11 of student action in holding! s American hostages amounts j! to an act of war, believes alt United States Senator visiting New Zealand. 11 Senator H. F. Byrd, of I 1 Virginia, was in Christ-H church on his way to the Antarctic. He is among sev- i eral American officials who will mark the fiftieth anni- i versary of the first flight I over the South Pole oy i Rear-Admiral Richard E. : Byrd, his uncle. Senator Byrd said that t American feeling was running high against Iran. “If anything happens to ■ those hostages, if they are i deliberately killed, it will ' have a profoundly shocking effect on the ' American ; ■people.” I He believed the United 1 | States was in “a terribly difficult position.” The Ayatol- i !ah Khomeiny and the stu- i dents holding the hostages ; were so fanatical that no- I body could predict what ! would happen, President Carter had been trying to handle the situ-

ation with diplomacy and re-ip straint, Senator Byrd said. 11 That was about the only thing that could be done. ’ 11 The American people were i not as restrained in their c thinking as the President t was, however. Senator Byrd was asked I whether President Carter t was likely to lose popularity 5 if anything happened to the 5 hostages. He replied that if I anything happened, the Pres- t ident would have no alterna- 1 tive but to take strong ac- s tion. I Senator Byrd said he was hesitant to speculate about f what such strong action £ might be composed of. 1 “Those people are so fanat- r leal that they could have v any reaction to a statement by a Government official,” t he said. 1 Senator Byrd is an Independent Democrat who i began his Senate career s three terms ago as a mem- a her of the Democratic Party. He withdrew from it at the I end of his first term after 1 being asked to sign a loyalty s oath supporting the party’s i

presidential candidate in 1972. He said he subsequently became the first Senator to poll more than the candidates of the two major parties combined. Asked about the race for presidential nomination between President Carter and Senator Edward Kennedy, Senator Byrd was cautious. He said finally, however, that if he was a betting man he would consider the odds slightly in favour of Senator Kennedy. Speaking of Chappaquiddick, he said that Senator Kennedy had his liabilities and would become more vulnerable as time wore on. “While I feel he is likely to be nominated he won’t have an easy time of it.” Also, President Carters public image had improved since Senator Kennedy had announced his candidacy. Senator Kennedy’s popularity was a result of both his name and his ability, said Senator Byrd. “He has a lot of political sex appeal although he has an extremely ultraliberal voting record . . . much more so than the American people.” Senator Byrd described his own beliefs as more conservative than those of the Democratic Party. !