IRANIAN OFFICIAL QUOTED AS SAYING HOSTAGES RELEASE POSSIBLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200006-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2011
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: December 10, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/08/31 : CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200006-5
ARTI,XL Al PFAR
ON PAGE
WASHINGTON
10 December 1986
Iranian officialquoted
as saying
hostages release possible
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - Iran is
prepared to help secure the release
of American hostages held in Leba-
non without having official talks
with the United States or receiving
money Iran claims belongs to it, a
top official was quoted as saying yes-
terday.
Iran's official Islamic Republic
News Agency, monitored in Nicosia,
attributed the remark to Parliament
Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani. It said
he made the statement during a
meeting with Konstantin Katushev,
head of a Soviet mission seeking to
improve economic links with Iran.
It was the third time Mr. Rafsan-
jani has declared Iran was prepared
to mediate with pro-Iranian Shi'ite
Moslem extremists who hold at least
five U.S. captives in Lebanon.
He first mentioned the offer on
Nov. 28. Then last Thursday he said
Iranian mediation was possible, but
stressed the United States had to de-
liver weapons paid for by the late
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi be-
fore the monarch was ousted in the
1979 Islamic revolution.
According to the IRNA report,
Mr. Rafsanjani made no mention of
the arms in relation to the hostages
in his talks with Mr. Katushev.
But the agency said he castigated
the Soviets for selling weapons to
Iraq, which has been at war with
Iran for more than six years.
It quoted Mr. Rafsanjani as say-
ing, "U.S. officials, whether Repub-
licans or Democrats, despite their
differences, accept the philosophy
of having ties with Iran and are pre-
pared, should we show any flex-
ibility, to solve our arms problems."
It said he added, "Nevertheless,
we decisively rejected that. We
agreed to contacts only in as far as
interceding for the hostages in Leba-
non, without having any official talks
or receiving the money which we
have in the U.S.A."
Six Americans are missing in
Lebanon, but the kidnappers of one,
William Luc 1_.&y, a political officer
a e . Embassy in Beirut,
claimed he was killed. The body has
never been found and there have
been reports he might have died in
captivity after being tortured.
The release of three others Amer-
ican prisoners since September 1985
have been linked in various reports
with the clandestine delivery of U.S.
weapons since that period.
Some $500 million of Iranian
funds were frozen in the United
States after Iranian militants
stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran
in 1979 and held more than 50 diplo-
mats and employees hostages for
444 days.
The delivery of military hard-
ware and spare parts worth some
$300 million ordered by the shah
were blocked. These are the arms
Iran insists should be delivered now.
President Reagan, his administra-
tion engulfed in conflict since it was
disclosed weapons had been sent to
Iran, with some of the proceeds go-
ing to Nicaraguan rebels, has de-
clared there will be no more arms
shipments to Iran.
The Iranian news agency re-
ported Rafsanjani referred to the se-
cret visit to Tehran last May of Rea-
gan's former national security
adviser, Robert McFarlane, in a bid
to improve relations with Iran and
said the lack of relations was an "an
unprecedented problem" for the
United States.
The agency quoted Mr. Rafsan-
jani as saying Mr. McFarlane,
"though bearing messages and gifts
from Mr. Reagan, was not able to
find a single official here who would
talk to him.
"Had I gone to Russia for trade,
[Soviet leader Mikhail] Gorbachev
would have spoken to me three
times."
Mr. Rafsanjani added the British
"are constantly dispatching emis-
saries to us in an effort to raise the
level of relations with us;' the news
agency reported.
The other Americans missing in
Lebanon are Terry A. Anderson,
chief Middle East correspondent for
The Associated Press, kidnapped
March 16, 1985; Thomas Sutherland,
acting dean of agriculture at the
American University of Beirut,
abducted June 9, 1985; Frank Her-
bert Reed, the director of the Leba-
nese International School, missing
since Sept. 9, 1986; Joseph James
Cicippio, acting comptroller at the
American University in Beirut, kid-
napped Sept. 12; and Edward Austin
TYacy, a writer abducted Oct. 21,
1986.
Approved For Release 2011/08/31 : CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200006-5