Iran Replies on Better Ties, Adds Provisos : Fitzwater Says Tehran Repeats Demand for U.S. Release of Assets

The Iranian government replied officially to a U.S. suggestion of working toward improved relations, but imposed unacceptable conditions for such a move, a White House spokesman said today.

Marlin Fitzwater said the message repeated demands the Iranians have publicly made, particularly the release of their assets held by U.S. financial institutions.

The spokesman did not say when the communication arrived, nor would Fitzwater describe what channel was used by the Iranians.

“I’d say that it didn’t offer any new information,” the spokesman told reporters at the daily White House news briefing.

“We have received a response to our earlier message, and the thrust of it was that they said the same thing in private that they had been saying in public,” the spokesman said.

Fitzwater said this included an insistence by Iran that, to demonstrate America’s interest in warming relations with the revolutionary government of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the United States must release Iranian assets frozen in this country.

Contained Quid Pro Quo

Fitzwater said that the communication from Iran contained a quid pro quo, adding that deal-making with Tehran is “something we have said we won’t do.”

The spokesman had said repeatedly last week that the United States received no response from Iran to a letter that the Administration sent congratulating Tehran on its acceptance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 598, seeking a cease-fire to the Iran-Iraq War and expressing an interest in an improvement of relations.

He also said at the time that the United States would deal only with an “authoritative” representative of the ayatollah’s government.

The spokesman refused today to identify the source of the communication, although he said that it had been accepted by the Administration as official and genuine.

“We considered it a serious response,” Fitzwater said.