Iran Asks France for $1 Billion, but Not for Hostages

Iran is seeking $1 billion from France, but it has nothing to do with French hostages being held by terrorists in Lebanon, the French ambassador to the United Nations said Thursday.

Ambassador Claude de Kemoularia said the money represents an investment in French atomic energy made by the government of the ousted Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, money the current Islamic regime is seeking to recover.

He declined to go into more detail.

“We have more hostages than you have, and we have to be very careful when we have to take on this subject,” Kemoularia told an audience of about 800 at a forum on terrorism sponsored by the New York Post.

Report on Payments

He made the remarks when asked about a report that the French government had agreed to pay $1 billion to Iran and a much lesser sum directly to the abductors of nine Frenchmen in Lebanon.

“The problem of the $1 billion has nothing to do with the hostages,” Kemoularia said. “During the shah’s time, the government of Iran wanted to participate in our peaceful use of atomic power, and they had put $1 billion in one of our projects in atomic energy.

“The present government of Iran wants to get this back,” he said.

Two fundamentalist Muslim groups claim to hold four Frenchmen each. No one has yet claimed responsibility for a missing ninth French national. Five Americans are also held hostage in Lebanon.

Syrian Intervention

Syria’s defense minister, Mustafa Talas, has said his country urged Iranian President Ali Khamenei to use his influence to get the Frenchmen freed and that Syria is confident this will be done.