Ex-U.S. Official Tells of Contact With Iranian

Former U.S. Atty. Gen. Elliot L. Richardson said Wednesday that he introduced U.S. officials to an Iranian businessman in an effort to free Americans kidnaped in Lebanon but that he did not know if the contact was useful.

The businessman, Cyrus Hashemi, died recently in London. He was a first cousin of Iranian Parliament Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani and a politically moderate expatriate with homes in London, New York and Connecticut, Richardson said.

Richardson, who held numerous Cabinet posts in the 1970s and now is a senior partner in a Washington law firm, made the comments while attending a conference in Peking. He told reporters about Hashemi when asked to clarify rumors that he was involved in purported U.S. efforts to secure the hostages’ release through secret arms sales to Iran.

3 Americans Freed

At least two of five Americans missing in Lebanon are believed held by Shia Muslims loyal to Iran’s clerical leadership. Three Americans, most recently David P. Jacobsen, have been freed since September, 1984. News reports have said the United States obtained their freedom by secretly shipping Iran weapons and military parts for use in its war with Iraq.

Richardson said that he had nothing to do with any arms sales and that he knew Hashemi only as a client.

The Iranian was indicted in 1984 on charges of selling non-military goods to Iran in violation of a U.S. embargo and was eager to play a role in winning freedom for the hostages in hopes that it would ease his own legal problems, Richardson said.

Set Up a Channel

“I established a channel with the government and Hashemi,” Richardson said. He did not identify the officials he contacted or when, saying only that the contact was made “during the past year.”

He said he did not know if it had any effect on efforts to free the hostages.

Richardson said that Hashemi cooperated with federal prosecutors in his embargo-violation case and that other people were indicted. The charges against Hashemi eventually were dropped, but Richardson said he did not know why, adding that he did not represent Hashemi in that case.

In 1980, Hashemi tried to help broker the release of American hostages held by militants who stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Richardson said.