Western Hostage to Be Freed Soon, Sources Say : Lebanon: Speculation centers on Anglican envoy Terry Waite or Irishman Brian Keenan.

A Western hostage held in Lebanon by pro-Iranian Muslim fundamentalist groups may soon be freed, Iran’s official news agency and Middle East sources said Saturday.

The Islamic Republic News Agency did not identify which of the 16 Western hostages would be let go, but Damascus-based diplomatic sources said it would likely be Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite, while a source in Beirut said it may be Irishman Brian Keenan.

The Damascus sources said Waite’s church has extended significant aid to the victims of last month’s earthquake in Iran, which killed an estimated 40,000 people. A spokesman for the Church of England in London would not put a dollar amount on the aid, which he said had been channeled through a handful of private agencies.

Ireland, meanwhile, has attempted in recent months to forge stronger ties with Iran, and three Irish senators visited Tehran a week ago to appeal for Keenan’s release.

IRNA quoted well-informed sources in Beirut as saying that the Western hostage to be released will probably be a European.

Ten Europeans and six Americans are still held in Beirut by pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim groups, which have demanded the release of Shiite prisoners held in Israel and other concessions.

Iran has maintained publicly that it is not connected with the fundamentalist groups but is widely believed to have considerable influence with the kidnapers.

Well-connected Middle East sources confirmed the IRNA report.

“An announcement to this effect would probably be made in Beirut within the next two days,” a Damascus-based Iranian source said.

Waite was abducted in West Beirut on Jan. 20, 1987, while attempting to negotiate the release of other hostages.

Keenan, a Belfast native who holds dual Irish and British citizenship, was an English teacher at the American University of Beirut when he was abducted April 11, 1986, on his way to work.