High Iranian, Runcie Meet on Hostages : Quiet Approach Needed, British Prelate Cautions

Archbishop of Canterbury Robert A. K. Runcie today reported that he has conferred with a senior Iranian official on the fate of British hostages in Lebanon, but added that “progress can only be made quietly.”

The spiritual head of the Church of England met Wednesday night with an Iranian Foreign Ministry official, Mohamed Reza Said Mohamedi.

The meeting was the first known direct meeting between Runcie and an Iranian envoy on the fate of Runcie’s envoy Terry Waite and other Britons believed held hostage in Lebanon by pro-Iranian Shia Muslim extremists.

In a brief statement issued today at Heathrow Airport before he boarded a flight for a three-week vacation in Philadelphia, Runcie said:

“I believe that everyone who is genuinely concerned about the improvement of Anglo-Iranian relations and about the British hostages in Lebanon will recognize that there are times when progress can only be made quietly.”

Refuses to Elaborate

The archbishop refused to elaborate and officials at his London residence, Lambeth Palace, said no further statement will be issued.

The Iranian Embassy also declined comment and there was no word on when Mohamedi will leave Britain.

Lambeth Palace officials also would not comment on earlier reports that Runcie and Mohamedi had scheduled several meetings.

Waite disappeared in Lebanon in January, 1987, while trying to secure the release of American hostages held by pro-Iranian extremists.

Mohamedi, a senior official on the European desk of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, helped arrange a visit to the Iranian capital in July by four British legislators.

The British domestic news agency Press Assn. said the Wednesday night meeting lasted 75 minutes.

Renewed Ties Possible

The talks came as Britain planned its first diplomatic visit to Iran in a year. First Secretary David Reddaway, a senior official of the British Foreign Ministry, was scheduled to leave for Tehran today.

Reddaway will spend three weeks in the Iranian capital assessing the possibility of a full-scale resumption of diplomatic ties.

A British Foreign Office spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, stressed that Mohamedi’s talks in London with Runcie had nothing to do with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government.

He said they were entirely the affair of church officials.