Cicippio Death Sentence Lifted, U.S. Believes

Administration officials said Wednesday that they believe last-minute pressure from Iran and Syria has persuaded Islamic terrorists to lift the death sentence against American hostage Joseph J. Cicippio.

Expressing hope for the first time that the present round in the Lebanese hostage crisis might be easing, officials said that Syria had “promised” to take action to prevent any immediate executions. In addition, the U.S. officials said they have received indirect indications that Iran also has acted to forestall the threatened killings.

The officials, speaking on condition that they not be named, said “tough messages” were passed to both Iran and Syria, making clear that the United States would consider them at least partly responsible if any harm came to Cicippio or other hostages.

The situation remains extremely volatile, the officials cautioned.

“The problem with Iran is you’re not dealing with a unified regime or, in Lebanon, with an evenly controllable group,” said one senior official.

The terrorists holding Cicippio in Lebanon had threatened to kill him if an Israeli-held fundamentalist Muslim leader, Sheik Abdel Karim Obeid, and two of his colleagues were not set free by 8 a.m. PDT today.

But the officials said that “indirect responses” from Iran, along with pledges of action from Syria, indicate that the two countries have successfully put pressure on the Shiite militants to lift the death threat. The Iranian-backed militants originally had threatened Monday to kill Cicippio by Tuesday afternoon, then extended the deadline to today.

U.S. diplomats had sought to persuade Iran and Syria to intervene since Monday when terrorists announced that they had executed another American hostage--U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins--in retaliation for the Israelis’ abduction of Obeid.

Could Relieve Bush Pressure

Lifting of the subsequent death sentence against Cicippio would bring President Bush at least some relief from the pressure that has been building on him to take forceful action against terrorists whose identities and locations are uncertain.

Earlier Wednesday, Bush said that he is “leaving no stone unturned” in searching for ways to deal with the terrorists but expressed frustration at the lack of information and options available in the crisis.

Asked if military action might be taken, Bush said: “We’re prudently planning.”

And he added: “Regrettably, we’re dealing with less than a full deck when it comes to information. It’s very hard when you’re dealing with this kind of cowardice and this kind of dastardly act to get all the information you need to make a decision.”

The President’s chief problem, said a senior Bush aide, “is you really don’t know who you’re trying to retaliate against. Everybody assumes it’s the Hezbollah (a pro-Iranian terrorist organization in Lebanon), but that includes a lot of factions. Even if we knew who, we wouldn’t know the location. And if you’re looking for the eight American hostages, they may be held in eight different places.”

(NBC News, quoting anonymous senior Administration officials, reported Wednesday evening that Bush has decided to “strike back at Lebanese Shiites and their Iranian sponsors” if more American hostages are slain.)

Orders to 14 Warships

While Administration officials weighed possible U.S. responses, the Pentagon directed 14 warships, including the aircraft carrier America and the battleship Iowa, to steam toward Lebanon and Iran.

The Iowa, one of its three 16-inch gun turrets still immobilized from a March explosion, pulled out of the French port of Marseilles ahead of schedule early Wednesday and could reach the Lebanese coast by Friday. The America, which left Singapore on Wednesday, is five days’ sailing time away from the Arabian Sea.

Pentagon officials said the guided missile cruiser Belknap, flagship of the U.S. 6th Fleet, and the fleet’s commander canceled a scheduled visit to the Soviet Black Sea port of Sevastapol to be “at the beck and call” of Bush in case he needs them.

In responding to reporters’ questions, the officials have attempted to downplay the ship movements and have pointed out that U.S. forces lack precise information on potential terrorist targets.

But Bush has fed the atmosphere of crisis in the hostage situation by canceling a two-day Midwestern trip and rushing back from Chicago on Monday after receiving reports of Higgins’ execution by hanging.

Since then, the President has held daily meetings with national security advisers on possible U.S. moves to counter the terrorists’ threats.

Bush aides began emphasizing Wednesday that the President is not preoccupied with the matter and is conducting business as usual, including greeting regularly scheduled guests and reaching an agreement with congressional sponsors on legislation extending anti-discrimination protections to the disabled.

In an indication that tensions here have eased since the announcement of Higgins’ execution, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney stuck with plans to travel to Wyoming over the weekend.

U.S. officials approached Iran and Syria for help to defuse the threat to Cicippio because both have considerable influence over the shadowy network of small terrorist groups in Lebanon that are believed to hold him, the seven other U.S. hostages in Lebanon and other foreigners, including Briton Terry Waite, the Church of England’s former hostage negotiator.

In the past Iran has not been responsive to U.S. overtures for help of this kind, but Administration officials expressed guarded optimism Wednesday that both countries did respond favorably this time.

The clearest response, a State Department official said, was Syria’s “promise” to take action to prevent any immediate executions. In 1987, Syria helped bring about the release of American journalist Charles Glass, in part by cutting off supplies to militant groups with control over him.

There have been no official Iranian responses through direct or indirect channels, but one Administration official said that there is reason to believe Iran should be credited “with suspending the death threat on Cicippio” Tuesday. U.S. officials are hopeful of continued assistance.

Both countries have had incentives to cooperate, analysts said. Syria has been trying to change its image of being linked to terrorist actions. And in Iran, Hashemi Rafsanjani, the nation’s new leader, is believed to be open to improved relations with the West. Furthermore, he is due to be inaugurated today , said one official, and “does not want to see another hostage killed on the day he is installed as president.”

U.S. officials continue to hope that the hostage crisis can still be resolved through a swap negotiated by Israel, although negotiations on one so far have gone nowhere.

Israel has offered to trade Obeid and other Shiites being held in Israeli prisons in return for the release of Israeli POWs and foreign hostages in Lebanon. Obeid and two colleagues were kidnaped last Friday in Lebanon by Israeli commandos.

American officials, citing the U.S. policy against negotiating with terrorists, have insisted that Israel is acting on its own. However, a State Department official confirmed that U.S. officials discussed a hostage swap proposal with Israeli leaders before Israel announced its offer. In those talks, the source said, the U.S. representatives said that they would not publicly object to such a deal.

“It wasn’t a yes” to go ahead, the official said. “It was a wink.”

Meanwhile, questions were still being raised about the videotape released by the terrorists to corroborate their report of Higgins’ death. Pentagon analysts who reviewed the videotape showing a body swinging at the end of a rope said that they could not be certain it was Higgins or, if it was, the cause or time of death.

Sources involved in the forensic investigation said that there are suspicions that the angle of the feet in the videotape suggested the victim shown had not just been hanged, and that rigor mortis was too advanced for death to have occurred when the terrorists claimed.

Times staff writers David Lauter, Melissa Healy and Thomas B. Rosenstiel contributed to this article.