Iran Remarks on Hostages ‘Encourage’ White House

The Bush Administration said today that it is encouraged by the latest comments from Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani saying a solution to the plight of the Western hostages in Lebanon is near.

“We’re encouraged by the comments. . . . They certainly are more hopeful than what we’ve heard in the more distant past,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.

Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency today quoted Rafsanjani as saying, “My feeling is that the issue of the hostages is moving toward a solution.”

Rafsanjani repeated Iran’s demands that Western nations help trace Iranian hostages missing in Lebanon and “also reduce their mischievous acts,” the news agency reported.

Fitzwater said the remarks “are in line with statements that we have seen in recent days and weeks that there was some interest in Iran in better relations with the West. We hope that that’s the case and that it will result in release of the hostages.”

The White House spokesman added, “But we have no direct knowledge that that is going to happen, and we have no direct knowledge of Mr. Rafsanjani’s motives or purposes in making those remarks.”

In Lebanon, a group holding two hostages said today that it has no intention of freeing the captives.

The Revolutionary Justice Organization also accused the United States of planning a military operation to free the hostages.

On Tuesday, the Tehran Times said that 1990 would be the last year for captivity for the hostages and that a resumption of ties with the United States is not a condition for their release.