CPYRGHT
Bonn Officials Report Tehran Sincere in Efforts to Restore Diplomatic Ties to the West
By Robert J. McCartney
Ho»l Foreign Service
BONN, Oct.
11—Iranian
officials, apparently
signaling a shift to a more conciliatory policy to-
ward the West, have told West German officials
in recent weeks that “the time of hostage-taking
is over," West German officials said this week.
The West Germans
said
their government,
which has painstakingly cultivated good ties with
Iran
in recent years,
is convinced from recent
contacts that influential members of the govern-
ment there are willing
to pursue a gradual im-
provement
in
relations with
the United States
;mr! other western countries.
Iranian leaders said such an improvement re-
quired
a
lengthy,
mutual
process
of
building
rust, but would include the release of U.S. and
)ther hostages held by pro-Iranian militants
in
Lebanon, the West German officials said.
The release in Beirut in the last month of two
lostages—a West German businessman and an
|
Indian professor with permanent til.S, residence
status—was a signal of the Iranians' new policy,
| they said.
,
i
The
West
Germans
believe
that?: Iran
has
shifted
its position because
it desires to end
its
isolation from the West, for both diplomatic and
commercial
reasons, now that a ceake-fire has
been achieved in the Iran-Iraq war.-
j
The officials discounted the possibility that the
Iranians were sending these signals
to try to in-
fluence the U.S. presidential campaign.
The West Germans, without making specific
recommendations
to
Washington,:
emphasized
that the United States should take advantage of
the current Iranian
attitude. "The
; time
is ripe
now
to make an
effort on both
sidles/’ a Bonn
official said.
In addition, Bonn wished to underline the will-
ingness of West German Foreign Minister Hans*
Dietrich Genscher to use his contacts with Iran
to work for the release of U.S. arid /other hos-
tages in Lebanon, the officials said. Genscher
is
to make an official visit to Tehran in late Novem-
ber.
As evidence of Genscher's good
relationship
with Tehran,
it was disclosed here that the Iran-
ians tipped him off at least 24 hours in advance
that hostage Mithiieshwar Singh was to be re-
leased in Beirut eight days ago.
Genscher was informed either Oct.
1 or Oct. 2
that a "U.S. professor of foreign origin” was to be
freed on Oct. 3 in Beirut, sources said here. Gen-
scher
immediately
phoned
Secretary
of State
George P. Shultz with the news.
The West Germans had the impression "that
Iran
wanted
to
send
a
signal
to
the
United
States" by passing the word to Genscher, an of-
ficial said. The Iranians "trusted Genscher to be
a good messenger/’ the source said.
The Iranians also gave Genscher nearly three
weeks’ advance
notice
of the
release of West
German businessman Rudolf Cordes, according
to the West German government. Cordes was
See IRAN, A26, Col.6
W. Germans Say Iran Sincere
In Efforts to Restore Relations
IRAN, From A21
released by pro-Iranian Shiite Mos-
Jems in Beirut on Sept. 12.
1 he Iranian government does not
have
total control over the radical
Smite
groups
holding
hostages
in
Lebanon,
but
it
has
considerable
|
influence over them, West German
officials said.
|
West
Germany,
alone
among
'
leading
western
countries,
has
maintained
full diplomatic relations
with Iran throughout the turmoil in
that
nation
that
began
with
the
lOVO revolution.
West German diplomats, nurtur-
ing
the
relationship,
have
consis-
tently worked to craft language that
took Iranian
interests into account
m drafting U.N. resolutions.
Hie
West
Germans
said
they
were not aware of any specific Iran-
ian conditions for an improvement
in relations with the United States
or
other
western
countries.
The
Iranians have spoken of U.S, “atti-
tudes” rather than of specifics, an
official said.
It was clear, however, that Iran
j\
0Ped
that
U.S.
positions
in
the
U.N. Security Council would not be
hostile
to
Iran.
It
also was under-
stood that Iran would welcome the
strongest possible U.S. condemna-
tion of Iraq’s reported use of chem-
I
ical weapons.
The Bonn government
has
dis-
:
cerned
a
direct
link between
the
new approach by Iran and the rise
of influence during the summer of
top officials in Tehran who do not
rule
out
a thaw
in
ties
with
the
West.
i
This group
is understood
to
in-
clude Speaker of the Iranian parlia-
ment AH Akbar Hashemi
Rafsan-
jani,
President
Ali Khamenei, and
Foreign
Minister
Ali
Akbar
Ve-
layati.
The group of officials, described
here
as "pragmatists/' got the up-
per hand with Iran’s acceptance m
July of U.N. Resolution 598. That
set the groundwork for the cease-
fire with Iraq.
"From then on, they
[the
Iran
iansj started to look for friends” in
the West, an official said. Sometime
in August, the Iranian Foreign Min-
istry was
given
the
authority
in
Iehran
to
press hard
ro
lease of the West German hostage,
Cordes, officials said.
*'
Leading skeptics concerning any
thaw in relations with the West are
said to include Prime Minister Mir
Hossein Mousavi and Interior Min-
ister Ali Akbar Mohtashemi.
:
]
w
In
toe West German
view,
the
pragmatists” are eager to see Iran
obtain western technology
to help
rebuild the nation's economy.
They
also
have
seen
from
thfe
;
success of Resolution 598—drafted
with
West
German
assistance—
’
that
“it pays to have friends
in the
-
United Nations/’ an offieial
:,;, id.
Another official, explaining Tran’s
.'
new
thinking,”
said: "The war
is
:
°u
er‘ They are
in
a
very
difficult
’
phase.
I hey need
to
reconstruct
*
their country.”
The West Germans played a role
in
bringing
together
the
United
Mates and
Iran
in
the
prolonged
negotiations that led to the
-elease
m January 1981 of the 52 U.S. Em-
bassy
personnel
held
hostage
iti
Tehran for 444 days.
.
Genscher acted as host in arrang-
ing talks in Bonn in September 19S0
between Warren
Christopher,
then
deputy secretary of state, and Sadeq
I abatabai, a relative and aide of Aya-
tollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
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5W f
'OSS
janon
Reuter
SIDON,
Lebanon,
Nov.
17—
Gunmen
kidnaped
a
# Swiss
Red
Cross worker today, and Palestinian
guerrillas, calling the abduction an
attempt to discredit their indepen-
dence
declaration,
promised
to
"storm houses” to find him.
Police said Peter Winkler, 32,
a
member of the
International Com-
mittee
of
the Red
Cross
(ICRC),
was
seized
at
gunpoint
by
three
masked men who
intercepted
his
car near Ain Helweh refugee camp
on the outskirts of Sidon, 25 miles
south of Beirut:
No
group
claimed
responsibility
for Winkler's abduction, the
first to
involve
a
Swiss
since
kidnaping
of
foreigners began in earnest in 1985.
Militia
and
security
sources
ar
cused
the
radica l Pateml i ilmi Pauli
Revolutionary Command, led by Abu
Nidal,
of kidnaping Winkler
to em-
barrass Palestine Liberation Organ-
ization
leader Yasspr Arafat follow-
ing his acceptance, in a conference in
Algiers Tuesday, of U.N. Resolution
242, which
implicitly recognizes
Is-
rael. A spokesman for the Abu Nidal
group
denied
the
accusations
and
said his group opposes
all acts of vi-
olence against "workers for human-
itarian organizations and members of
friendly states”
The ICRC appealed for Winkler's
release, saying, "The ICRC in Leb-
anon appeals to those holding Win-
kler to release him immediately so
he can resume his mission of assist-
ing victims of the conflict.”
Lebanese Moslem and
Palestin-
ian officials in
flirio n condemned the
abduction
and
said
the
kidnapers
wanted
to undermine
the
political
gains achieved by Palestinian
lead-
ers
in
declaring
an
independent
state at their meeting in Algiers.
Officials
of
several
Palestinian
guerrilla groups held an emergency
meeting
here and
"agreed
to
take
immediate measures
to
free
[Win-
kler], including storming houses and
a wide search operation,” said Abu
Nizar, of the
radical Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine.
On Feb.
5, gunmen seized a Nor-
wegian and a Swede who worked for
the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.
Both
were
quickly
released.
U.S.
Marine Lt.
Col. William R. Higgins,
head of a U.N. truce
unit, kidnaped
in February, remain? in captivity.
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V- fi/f
- /
/
a, s'
a
L
U.S. Pulls Out
Of U.N. Patrol
jin Lebanon J
,
.
i:
•
'
V* -
;
-
-
.
.
!Risks Considered Too High
J^^Mirine ’s Kidnaping
...
Associated Press
CPYRGHT
The
Reagan
administration
has
withdrawn
s American
military
officers from patrol
duties
with the United Nations peacekeeping unit in
! strife-tom southern Lebanon, officials said yes-i
iterday.
’^1
•The decision comes 9Vi months after the ab-’
l duction of Marine
Lt. Col. William R. Higgins
from the unit, which is known as the Observer
Group Lebanon of the U.N. Truce Supervision
|
' Organization (UNTSO).
^ ’V
y
Higgins was kidnaped Feb. 17 while driving
j between the Lebanese city of Tyre and the bor-
der town of Naqoura, site of a U.N. observer
j headquarters. He became the ninth American to
be seized as a hostage in Lebanon, all apparently
by pro-Iranian Moslem fundamentalists.
S
Administration officials, who agreed to discuss
f the miattej^only if they were not identified, said
; the Americans were ordered out over the past
| week.
:
„ ;
'
’ I
,
“They are no
longer
in southern
Lebanon.
—
£_
They've been withdrawn over the
last severa
days,” one source said. “It’s too risky,” another
official commented. “The risk to ouf people h
now considered too high and we don’t want then
traveling inside Lebanon.”
UNTSO has almost 300
mijitary personne
...from 17 nations. The jUnited States provides 3(
’men, of whom 16 are assigned to the Observei
(Group,Lebanon.
-
;.
,,
,
.
,
..
Neither |Drfense Department nor State De
partment officials would discuss the matter pub
JicJy yesterday...
; ^4
i
•;
j
|
.*
jBnt sources said the United States has told th<
j
|
United Nations it hopes to resume participator
in the Observer Group Lebanon “when condi
tiqns in soUtliem' Lebanon permit.” The admin
istration made clear that it continues to support
all
other
U.N.;;operations
in
the
region,
the
sources also
!
said,r. f
:
'(
[
'• <'
-
-
UNTSO wad organized to maintain the cease
fire Ordered by the’ U.JJ. Security Council in July
f 1948 following Israel’s creation and to supervise
the general armistice -agreements between Jor-
dan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and Israel.
It serves as the focal .point for all U.N. Middle
East
peacekeeping
‘ derations
and
monitors
cease-fire violations aldng the Israeli borders.
Although the United States reduced the num-
ber of Americans actually
patrolling
with
the
U.N. unit inside Lebanon after Higgins’ kidnap-
ing^,^ Ae.admmstration had denied planning
to
withdraw' Ahierican soldiers from the team en-
tirely, stressing the need
to demonstrate U.S.
support for the peacekeeping efforts.
The State Department long ago ordered
all
American civilians out of Lebanon and trimmed
the U.S. Embassy staff in Beirut to a few dozen
persons.
^
;
i
;
...
......
••
r
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CPYRGHT
ease
Iran Talks
On Ties
/fV
No Reply Received;
Tehran’s Acceptance
Of Truce Welcomed
By David B. Ottaway
Washington Post Staff Writer
The United States sent
a mes-
sage
last
week
welcoming
Iran's
acceptance of a cease-fire with Iraq
and proposing
talks on normaliza-
tion of U.S.-Iranian relations, Dep-
uty
Secretary
of
State
John
C.
Whitehead disclosed yesterday.
“We have sent a message to them
[Iran]
since
their
acceptance
of
[U.N.] Resolution 598 indicating to
them that we welcome that step of
theirs, indicating our willingness to
cooperate in the implementation of
their decision,” Whitehead said on
ABC News' “This Week With David
Brinkley.”
“They know that we are prepared
for more contacts
if we can be sure
that we are dealing with responsible
spokesmen
of
their
government”
he added.
Whitehead said the Iranians had
not replied yet.
Reagan
administration
officials
have
been
emphasizing
publicly
their strong interest
in improving
relations with Tehran now
that
it
has accepted a cease-fire. Many be-
lieve
that
this
is essential
to any
hope of gaining Iranian intervention
with
the
Shiite
captors
of
nine
American
hostages
being
held
in
Beirut.
Yesterday, the leading Shiite re-
ligious
leader
in
Lebanon,
Sheikh
Mohammed
Hussein
Fadlallah,
called on "all parties” involved in the
hostage issue "to resolve this mat-
ter objectively and bring
it to a hap-
py ending
without media manipu-
lations” [Related story, Page A16]
U.S. officials have said the admin-
istration is willing to talk to Hezbol-
lah,
the
group
holding
the
nine
Americans,
about
release
of
the
hostages but will make no "deals.”
Defense Secretary Frank C. Car-
lucci,
appearing
on NBC
News'
“Meet the Press,” also made a new
See POLICY, A 16, Col. 3
n
rrportvit ingulf war a*
••fame
A
/W A 16
Iran Talks
On Relations
POLICY, From A1
bid
for
talks
with
Iran,
saying,
“We’d
be prepared
to meet
with
them,
providing
they’d
designate
somebody officially to talk to us."
Carlucci indicated that the Unit-
ed States is ready to talk to Tehran
about anything other than “getting
more
arms,”
a
reference
to
the
White House
secret
operation
in
1985-86 during which the United
States
sent
arms
to
Tehran
in
hopes
of
gaining
the
release
of
American hostages.
White House spokesman Marlin
Fitzwater,
asked
about
Carlucci's
comments, emphasized that no one
would negotiate with Iran
for re-
lease of the hostages.
“They don't need negotiations to
release the hostages. We're willing
to talk to anybody, any time, any
place. But we are not willing to ne-
gotiate. We are not willing to pay
ransom. There
is no
need. They
took
them,
they
should
release
them,”
Fitzwater
said
aboard
Air
Force One returning from Califor-
nia.
Whitehead
did
not say how the
U.S. message was relayed to Teh-
ran, with which Washington has no
diplomatic
relations.
U.S.
officials
have said, however, that the United
States has sent a number of similar
messages to the Iranians since lateX^
last year through the fiwiss Embas-
sy there.
The
Swiss
represent American
interests in Tehran. The Algerians
represent Iranian interests here.
Iran has also been making over-
tures
to
Washington
indirectly,
through
third nations ag^ndi^jd-.
uals claiming to have cohtacjg,\V*th.,
[
one or another top Iranian leader.
L The last of these probes occurred in
T April. But so
far, Tehran has
re-
fused to open a direct, formal dia-
logue.
Because of
its bitter experience
in
dealing
with
shadowy
Iranian
would-be intermediaries during the
Iran-contra
affair,
the
administra-
tion has been insisting that Tehran
name an official representative with
specific
government
authority
to
talk to Washington.
....
Diplomatic sources said initiating
such a direct dialogue at the United
Nations in New York has been un-
der
discussion
through
third
par-
ties, but that no decision has been
reached.
Since
the
accidental
shooting
down
of an
Iran
Air
jetliner with
290 people aboard by the USS Vin-
cennes
in the Persian Gulf July 3,
the administration has stepped up
its
efforts
to
engage
Tehran
in
talks. President Reagan has said the
United States
will pay compensa-
tion to families of the deceased and
expressed deep regret.
Despite
U.S.
efforts
to engage
Iran in a direct dialogue, Whitehead
emphasized repeatedly that
a res-
toration
of U.S.-Iranian diplomatic
relations is not imminent.
He said that while relations may
in
i prove,
“It
is some way away to-
v.\:r
anything like the restoration
of norm it relationships with Iran
”
FRANK C. CARLUCCI
. defends presence in Persian Gulf
uOHN C. WHITEHEAD
_
v tells of U.S. message to Tehran
Carlucci
held
out
to
Iran
the
*.
prospect of a reduction in the U.S.
military
presence
in
the
Persian
Gulf, one of the Iranians' main ob-
jectives
since
the
buildup
of U.S.
warships
there
to
escort
Kuwaiti
tankers reregistered under the U.S.
flag.
„
...
He
said
the
United
States
will
wait “some reasonable interval" to
make sure the cease-fire is holding
before
it
stops
its
escorts,
but
“there's no desire to keep 27 ships
there any longer than possible.
“We would certainly draw down
as soon as feasible,” he said at an-
o:her point.
Carlucci also defended the pres-
ence
inside
the
gulf
of
the
Vin-
cennes and
its sophisticated Aegis
electronic firing system, denying
it
was “the wrong equipment” for use
in “a lake” like the Persian Gulf.
“It
is the best ship to deal with
the Silkworm missile and we had no
real capability to cope with the Silk-
worm
missiles,” he
said
of
Iran s
Chinese-made
shore-to-ship
weap'
ons that he said represented “a real
threat” to U.S. warships.
“So there was good and
sound
reason for having the Vincennes in
the gulf at that time ” he added.
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