Bush Admits to ‘Back Alley’ Talks on Hostages

President Bush on Tuesday acknowledged “back alley” searches for information about U.S. hostages and predicted that the world will be “very, very fascinated” when the entire story can be told about his telephone call from a purported Iranian leader.

Bush refused to provide any details. But one Administration official said the hoax phone call “came from a government building in Tehran . . . but no one knows who (it was).” A second official confirmed the gist of that comment.

The President defended his decision to accept a telephone call several weeks ago from a man claiming to be the Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran’s president. The caller wanted to talk about the eight U.S. hostages and other Westerners held in Lebanon.

“What’s wrong with reaching out and touching someone?” Bush asked.