Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 24, 1990 TAG: 9004240299
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The source said that he did not know if the alert involves one of the two Americans still held by the Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine, the group that released Polhill on Sunday. Other militant Islamic groups hold five other Americans.
Meanwhile, Iran's foreign minister said Monday that he expected a second captive to be freed in the "next few days."
However, he coupled his prediction with a hint that future hostage releases would depend on the release of four Iranians abducted in Lebanon in 1982 - and now believed by U.S. officials to be dead - and 400 Lebanese and Palestinians, including a prominent Shiite religious leader, who are under Israeli control.
The remarks by the Iranian official, Ali Akbar Velayati, underscored the deep concern among U.S. officials that efforts to gain the freedom of the seven Americans still held hostage in Lebanon would become embroiled in what has been a sticking point on and off since the start of the current hostage crisis: The freedom of the prisoners held in Israel and the four Iranians.
Thus, while some U.S. officials expressed tentative optimism that there may indeed be movement toward additional hostage releases, one administration official suggested that Polhill's release would not open the floodgates.
"This is not like the Berlin Wall coming down. It's not going to happen in a weekend," the official said.
One State Department official, reflecting a degree of tentative optimism, commented, "If this is an effort to bring us to the bargaining table, then they're barking up the wrong tree. If this is a desire to recognize that the hostage-holding business is not good for Iran or its economy, then we're moving in the right direction."
Speaking at a news conference moments after Velayati's comments were broadcast in an interview on the Cable News Network, Secretary of State James A. Baker III appeared to confirm the difficulty the renewed demand would cause.
"We're really not into this bargaining or negotiating trades or making deals for our hostages. We're not going to deal. We're not going to negotiate. We've said that before and seen hostages released. We've said that before and not seen hostages released," he said.
He said, however, that he remained hopeful that more hostages would be released. But he refused to say on what his optimism was based.
President Bush, who greeted news of Polhill's release with low-key praise for the role of Syria, and the less-certain help of Iran, made no public comments Monday on the Middle East developments. However, he spoke by telephone with Syrian President Hafez Assad, thanking him for Syrian assistance and expressing interest in the fate of the remaining hostages, a White House spokesman said.
Meanwhile, with the freedom of the remaining American hostages possibly linked to the freedom of the Shiite figure held in Israel, Sheik Abdel Kareem Obeid, White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater was deliberately vague when he asked whether the United States was seeking Obeid's release from Israel. The sheik was captured on July 27, 1989, in Lebanon and was taken to Israel.
by CNB