Free Iran Assets, Ex-Hostage Asks

A former U.S. hostage urged the United States on Thursday to consider releasing Iranian assets in exchange for the release of the nine Americans held captive in Lebanon.

“It can be done aboveboard. It can be done legally and openly, and the Americans, I think, would approve of that,” said Father Lawrence M. Jenco, a Roman Catholic priest who was held in Lebanon from January, 1985, to June, 1986.

Jenco, interviewed from Portland, Ore., on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America,” said, “I absolutely believe we should listen to the Iranians. . . . We’re talking about the assets of Iran, and I’m talking about the national assets of America, which are nine Americans who are there.”

Iran’s Parliament Speaker, Hashemi Rafsanjani, said Tuesday that Iran would use its influence to try to free American hostages in Lebanon if Washington releases assets frozen in the United States.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater responded: “We will not negotiate or pay ransom for hostages. No deals.”