The French-Iranian deal

Press, 1 December 1987, Page 22

The French-Iranian deal

The release of two French jourhalists held in Lebanon by a pro-Khomeiny group, and the rapid departure frbrn France of an Iranian translator, appear to. be cOnfiected. Some kind of a deal seems to have been arranged between Iran and France. But it is unclear whether the exchange of the journalists and the translator is the limit of the deal, A French consul in Teheran has allowed himself to be questioned — an unusual relaxation of diplomatic immunity that looks i as if it is part'of a wider deal. Is the : questioning a gesture aimed at pacifying the: Iranian extremists who are demanding action against France’s alleged anti-Islamic stance? France reasonably could agree to such interferencewith qneJ, of Jits diplomats, knowing thaf even if the Iranians found him guilty of some misdeed tie could be protected by his diplomatic Status froin punishment. Of course the exchange; of people is unfair; but ttiat is. the why of such dealing. The journalistwere Held; hostage without pretext; the French had wanted to question the translator; Vahid Gordji. bver his almost certain masterminding of terrorist bombings which occurred in, Paris m September, 1986. There is no toe W; cases, a car believed September bombings was found in his garage. Mr Gordji appeared to have.high status in the Iranian Embassy in Paris although tie was not formally part of the diplomatic staff. Because he was not part of ,the diplomatic staff Mr GorUjf did not have diplomatic privileges, which meant that he could have been tried in a French court and, if found guilty, convicted and , punished.: When he refused to surrender himselff or questioning the French authorities placed a guard over the Iranian Embassy so thatMr- Gordji could not escape. France also broke relations with Iran, and the Iranians placed a guard over the French Embassy in Teheran. Now Mr Gordji has gone, with the approval of the French Government. Presumably this will bring about an end to the war of the embassies, although France may be reluctant to re-establish diplomatic relations with Iran Until the other five French' hostages being held in Lebanon are released. ■ : Iran may want much more, including an end to France’s supply of arms to Iraq, with which Iran has been at war for more than seven years. France had earlier determined that it wanted to Improve its relations with Tran And hnd taken imnortant steos. including

the payment of a SUS3OO million debt France owed Iran when- the Shah was in power. Other French hostages were released after the- payment of that debt Altogether France has secured the release of seven of its citizens from Lebanon. Early in the Iran-Iraq war France was on the side of Iraq and became a major supplier of arms. Like many other countries France did not want to see Iran win, and thus be faced with an expansionist Iran. France also enjoyed exerting influence in Iraq, replacing Britain in that role. Later it appeared that Iran was not going "to be defeated easily by Iraq, and France was faced with problems of hostages being seized in Lebanon by proIranian groups. In an effort to improve relations with Iran, France expelled an antiKhomeiny leader. The backing that France had given Iraq irritated Iran, but it welcomed improved relations because of its own growing isolation from the West. The suspected link between Mr Gordji and the 1986 ? bombings > leid to : considerable -embarrassment! he French secret service found the link'and then found itself pitted against French diplomats and even French detectives. The? picture .was complicated by - the. Prime Minister, Mr Chirac, about who would dominate foreign policy. France wants to preserve its good relations with Iraq but also wants to reduce the possibility of Iranian terrorism in France. The problem in dealing with terrorist groups is to avoid 'caving in to violent blackmail. Various attempts have been made to get a united international front on dealing with terrorist demands. As further details of this French deal emerge, it will be interesting to gee if any other countries are involved. Pakistan, which has been acting for France ■in Teheran, was probably involved, but no other country appears to have wanted Mr Gordji to answer any charges. Other > countries will examine the deal with some : thoroughness, because if one country was seen to bow to the demands of tferrorists then vit;would b£ Harder*,for other coiititrtes to Stamp out terrorism/. '' -'' The French appear to be acting cautiously. And there is good reason for rejoicing that Mr Auque and Mr Normandin / have been released. Similarly welcome is the flicker of hope they have brought with them, that Mr Terry Waite, the envoy of the Archbishob of Canterbury, is still alive.