U.S. Opens Talks on Iran Assets, Rejects Speculation on Hostages

Iranian and U.S. officials met Monday to discuss Iranian claims to more than $500 million in frozen assets, but Washington says the talks are not expected to win the release of five American hostages held in Lebanon.

A State Department official in Washington cautioned against any speculation that the talks might be the key to the release of the hostages, believed held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.

“We see no link whatsoever between these funds and the hostages,” spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley said in Washington in a statement reinforcing the State Department’s position.

Oakley said both sides at the talks in The Hague have sought to keep the discussions separate from political issues.

Meeting Lasts 4 Hours

Sam Wunder, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy here, said Monday’s meeting of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal lasted almost four hours and covered the more than $500 million in assets held since 1981 by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. No details of the talks were announced.

The American mission, composed of two representatives from the Federal Reserve and one from the Treasury Department, plans to meet with its Iranian counterparts again today.

Wunder noted that the parties met despite the Dec. 20 expiration of a deadline set by the tribunal in August when it urged Iran and the United States to start immediate negotiations on the case.

The nine-member tribunal--composed of three Americans, three Iranians and three citizens of other countries--has been the forum for arbitration or settlement of about 900 out of 4,000 claims cases between the two countries. It was set up by the January, 1981, Algiers Accords that ended the crisis over Iran’s holding of 52 American hostages for 444 days after the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

Armaments at Issue

Among the claims waiting to be considered is one for $11 billion by Iran over alleged U.S. defaults on contracts for military equipment signed by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi before the overthrow of his regime in 1979.