Iran Demand Foiled Peace Bid, U.N. Chief Confirms

Iran’s insistence that Iraq be formally found guilty of starting the Iran-Iraq War before Tehran agrees to a cease-fire blocked a U.N. Security Council attempt to halt the seven-year-old conflict, a confidential report by Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar has confirmed.

Perez de Cuellar recently visited Tehran and Baghdad, and the terms he proposed to the two warring countries were outlined in his report, a copy of which was obtained Friday by The Times.

He suggested that a specific date--designated as D-Day--be agreed upon for the beginning of a cease-fire requested by a Security Council resolution of July 20.

Proposed U.N. Observers

“On a specific date after D-Day, which would have to be agreed upon, the withdrawal of all forces to the internationally recognized boundaries would start (to be completed within an agreed time frame),” the report said. “On D-Day, a team of United Nations observers would be dispatched to verify, confirm and supervise the cease-fire and, subsequently, the withdrawal of all forces.”

Also on D-Day, Perez de Cuellar proposed, an “impartial body to inquire into responsibility for the conflict would start its work,” to be completed at an agreed date.

The Iranians quickly raised a stumbling block, the report said.

“They insisted that the international community should acknowledge that the inquiry into the responsibility for the conflict must be given the highest priority in any attempt to progress toward a negotiated settlement,” the report continued. “They emphasized that, therefore, the key to opening the way toward peace was the establishment of a link between the cease-fire and the impartial inquiry.”

In the original Security Council resolution, the inquiry into who started the war was clearly subsidiary to the cease-fire and withdrawal requirements.

After “long hours,” Perez de Cuellar said, the Iranians eventually asked that a “formal cease-fire must be preceded by the process of the identification of the party responsible for the initiation of the conflict.”

Only after the guilty party was named would Iran accept a formal cease-fire, he said, and until that point, Iran would agree to only an “undeclared cessation of hostilities.”

In Baghdad, the secretary general found Iraqi leaders willing to accept his proposals unchanged, but unwilling to accept anything less than a comprehensive cease-fire as specified by the Security Council.

Opposed Undeclared Truce

“One important thing that Iraq particularly stressed was that under no circumstances would Iraq accept an undeclared cease-fire,” he said. “They also underlined that the cease-fire should be followed without delay by the withdrawal of all forces.”

Perez de Cuellar reported that Iraq “was not against entrusting an impartial body with inquiring into responsibility for the conflict” and had been willing to do so since 1981, when early peace efforts were attempted.

Since the original report was submitted, additional Iranian “suggestions” have been received here, but the secretary general told reporters Friday that these were nothing “dramatically new.”

If anything, Iranian President Ali Khamanei in public statements this week only hardened his insistence on the link between a cease-fire and a war-guilt verdict.