Direct Hostage Talks With Iran Possible : White House Sets Preconditions; Intermediary Contact Reported

President Bush’s chief spokesman today held out the possibility of direct talks with Iran over the hostages under certain conditions, but cautioned, “We’re nowhere near that.”

Among the preconditions toward any such direct dialogue with the new leaders of Tehran, press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said, would be a clear sign from authoritative Iranian officials that they are willing to enter such talks.

A published report in Tehran said indirect U.S.-Iranian talks on the hostages will open within a few days, conducted through a third country, probably Pakistan.

Fitzwater said it is “premature” to expect direct talks with Tehran.

The spokesman indicated, however, that indirect contacts will continue. He said the United States is likely to take advantage of Pakistani Foreign Minister Sahabzada Yaqub Khan’s visit to Iran next week to send the Tehran government another message.

Khan met with Vice President Dan Quayle last week and Quayle urged Pakistan to “become involved in helping facilitate the release of the hostages and to reveal information that Pakistan has accumulated on the situation,” Quayle spokesman David Beckwith said.

Bush had said Wednesday that he did not want to miss any signal from the Middle East that might lead to freedom for the eight American hostages.

Fitzwater also said the United States and Israel are being “forthcoming” with each other about efforts to free their hostages in Lebanon but were not coordinating their efforts.

Israeli officials had claimed that Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir persuaded Bush in a 10-minute telephone call Wednesday night to coordinate efforts to release foreign hostages and Israeli prisoners held in Lebanon.

“We’ve generally tried to be forthcoming with what we are doing, and they have been forthcoming with what they’re doing. However, I would not characterize it as coordination,” Fitzwater said.

The English-language Tehran Times said in an editorial today that indirect talks between Iran and the United States on the hostage crisis will begin within days.

Fitzwater said the United States is “encouraging talks of every kind.”