U.S. message gives new twist to Iran hostage crisis

Press, 31 March 1980, Page 1

U.S. message gives new twist to Iran hostage crisis

NZPA-Reuter

Teheran

The United States has put forward fresh proposals to Iran for a solution of the Teheran hostage crisis, according to intermediaries in the five-month-old dispute.

The proposals formed the basis of an alleged message from President Carter to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny published by the Iranian news agency Pars on Saturday, they said. t No formal, written message had been sent by President Carter but the United States Administration had made its latest viewpoints known in a series of telephone conversations between Washington and Teheran.

In Washington, a senior United States official said the two sides had, been exchanging ideas on how to resolve the crisis over the continued detention of the 47 American hostages taken when the United States Embassy in Teheran was stormed by Muslim students on November 4.

The purported message carried by Pars contained ! some of the ideas raised ' in the course of these communications/ ; / Pars said-the-American ' message leant heavily on Iran’s antagonism towards ‘ the-Soviet Union and re- . ferred to a speech by Aya- ' tollah Khomeiny on,March 1 21 in which he had at- ! tacked Moscow for its military involvement in Afghanistan. The United States was ready to acknowledge past mistakes and to accept the reality of the Islamic revolution in Iran ; It was.not behind the departure of the deposed Shah from Panama to Egypt. It was prepared to accept a joint commission to investigate the grievances of both sides if the hostages were handed over to Iranian Government control. :j President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr dismissed a White House denial that

any message had been sent by President Carter. “Mr Carter’s message to the Imam (Ayatollah Khomeiny) and myself was delivered simultaneously through the Swiss Charge d’Affaires in Teheran,” he said.

“In the message to me Mr Carter said he did- not wish to undertake any action which.would put pressure on'lran but the situation of the hostages and internal . factors in the United States have put him under pressure and he cannot ignore these factors.” A Swiss Embassy official, asked about the message mentioned by Mr BaniSadr, said, “The Ambassador, has instructed me to tell all callers that we have no comment on the matter.” .

Mr Bani-Sadr said Iran had decided to publish the purported’ text of the message because “everything must be done through-informing the public and/through public awareness and therefore we are obliged to put any letter or message before public opinion at the appropriate time.” Of the controversy over the existence of a message, he said, “Mr Carter has not yet understood our Islamic revolution : and therefore he does not know that we do not conceal anything from thd public.’”: ’

Mr Bani-Sadr said he' had told President Carter that th# basis for Iran’s conduct was to examine the position of the hostages in "the struggle against domination in .any part of the: world.”-...

Mr Bani-Sadr’s statement made no reference to

the key American proposal of a joint United StatesIranian commission ,to examine both sides’ grievances once the hostages • transferred to Iranian Government control.

“Apparently.it is- not a political custom to reveal: such messages,’ 3 Mr. BaniSadr said in his statement. , ■•.‘But criteria for a revolu- ’ lion are different and we ought . .to use these criteria.”

In Cairo, the Egyptian newspaper “Al Akhbar” said that the Libyan leader. Colonel Muammer Gadaffi, the Iranian authorities, and Palestinian extremist organisations had been plotting to kidnap the Shah.

Palestinian terrorists attending a meeting chaired by Colonel Gadaffi in Tripoli'last Thursday had proposed a plan, codenamed “Operation Ayatollah,'” for abducting the Shah from his bed at the heavily guarded Maadi Military Hospital outside Cairo and taking him back to Iran for his trial One of the Shah’s surgeons said yesterday that' the Shah, whose grossly enlarged spleen was removed last Friday, -'will make a full recovery and lead a normal life.”

An American surgeon, Mr Michael. Debakey, who headed a team of United States, French, and Egyptian doctors, said the Shah’s condition was "very satisfactory” and that he would be able to leaver Maadi hospital in 10 days. The Shah’s spleen had been 10 times its normal size.

The Shah flew to Egypt last Monday after being threatened with extradition to Iran from his island refuge in Panama.