Departure of U.S. Newsman From Tehran Reported

Airport officials in Tehran said early today that American journalist Gerald F. Seib has left the Iranian capital en route to West Germany.

Seib, a 30-year-old, Cairo-based correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, was detained Saturday during a government-sponsored press tour and had been accused of spying.

Officials at the Tehran airport said in a telephone interview that Seib was aboard Lufthansa Flight 601 that left the airport at dawn today. They said the plane would make a brief stop in the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas before flying on to Frankfurt.

Accused of Spying

Seib was in a group of 57 foreign journalists invited to visit the southern front in the 6 1/2-year-old war with Iraq.

He had been in Iran 10 days when he was detained and accused of spying for Israel. The Iranian news agency said a “spy of the Zionist regime” was arrested after entering the country with a false passport, disguised as a journalist.

An announcement Wednesday by the Information Ministry said authorities decided to release Seib after “a judicial probe into his case ended.” The announcement said Seib has been “permanently banned from returning to Iran.”