Iran-U.S. conflict on brink of solution?

Press, 16 February 1980, Page 1

Iran-U.S. conflict on brink of solution?

NZPA-Reuter Teheran The next few hours should decide whether the 50 American hostages held by militant students in the United States Embassy in Teheran will be released in the next few days.

Attempts to provide a final solution have been described as “sensitive and delicate,” but it appears that only a few minor details have to be approved before a settlement is reached. President Bani-Sadr has said in an interview broadcast in France that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny has approved a new plan for the hostages to be : freed, which is thought to include an international panel of inquiry. The revolutionary leader has yet to pronounce publicly on the issue and a spokesman at the Teheran hospital where he is recovering from a heart ailment said yesterday he could not comment, on whether President BaniSadr’s plan had the Ayatollah’s support. A report from San Francisco said President Carter secretly sent Ayatollah Khomeiny at least three messages through a United States diplomat to work out an agreement to gain the release of the hostages, the “San Francisco Examiner” reported yesterday. The newspaper, in a story filed from its Washington bureau, reported that a break-through in the United States-Iran stalemate occurred only five days ago, after the topsecret exchange of messages. The United States shifted its earlier position and agreed to participate in an international tribunal —- sponsored by the United Nations — to investigate alleged crimes against the Iranian people by the former Shah, the newspaper reported, quoting unnamed State Department officials. In return for the concessions, Ayatollah Khomeiny dropped his demands for the return of the Shah before the release of ■ the American hostages, and agreed to support the plan to release the hostages when the tribunal convenes.

■ The Governor of Iran’s Central Bank said last evening that the release of $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets in American banks was one of the conditions in any plan to free the hostage's. The “Washington Post" said Ali Reza Nabari made the comment in a telephone interview from Teheran. The Iranian Foreign Minister (Sadeq . Qotbzadeh) said yesterday in Rome that the release of American

hostages depended on the formation of a special United Nations commission. He told a press conference he had been in touch with the SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations (Dr Kurt Waldheim) and was told the commission could be formed within the next two days. Mr Qotbzadeh' arrived in Rome earlier, yesterday for talks with the’ Italian Government as part of Iran’s effort to normalise relations with Western Europe. Asked about reports that President Bani-Sadr held out the prcepects that the United States hostages might be released within the next 48 hours, Mr Qotbzadeh said he had obviously been misunderstood. He said he was in full

agreement with the President but did not believe the hostages could be immediately freed. The President obviously meant that if everything could be done within 48 hours. . . the whole thing would be over, he said. The Iranian Foreign Minister said that students involved in the occupation of the United States embassy would not block any attempt to resolve the problem. President Bani-Sadr was not available for further comment yesterday, but a close aide, Ahmad Salamatian, said: “I don’t think Bani-Sadr is in a hurry to solve this problem at any price. It is a question of reaching a clear-cut solution in which the interests and grievances of Iranians are safeguarded.” The spiritual leader of the students occupying the United States Embassy has launched a vigorous attack on the militants’ political opponents. Hojatoleslam Kho’ini said in interviews in the two main pro-clergy newspapers, “Islamic Republic” and “Azadegan,” that the students were the victims of a plot to undermine the embassy occupation. ■ Iran wants a guarantee that any United Nations commission set up to break the deadlock will hold a serious and speedy investigation into the alleged crimes of the former Shah. Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasir-o-Sadat Salami. A United Nations spokesman in New York •said a statement would soon be made on the composition of an international panel proposed to inquire into the alleged crimes of the deposed Shah. The spokesman turned aside most other questions, saying: “We have reached a very sensitive, very" delicate stage in the negotiations.”