The World - News from May 12, 1989

The U.S. State Department accused Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, of continuing to pursue “a policy of terrorism” despite his denial that he had advocated retaliatory killings of Americans and other Westerners. “Our view of Iran’s support for terrorism has not changed. If Iran wants to join the community of civilized nations, it must unconditionally rescind all of its death threats and exhortations to violence and cease its sponsorship of terrorism in all forms,” department spokesman Richard Boucher said. Last week, Rafsanjani was reported to have called on Palestinians to kill five Westerners in retaliation for every Arab slain during the uprising in the Israeli-occupied territories. Palestinian leaders rejected Rafsanjani’s call, and he later said he was misinterpreted.