WORLD : Delay on Hostages Tied to Gulf
A pro-Iranian leader said today that the deployment of U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf will delay the release of American hostages in Lebanon.
“I don’t see . . . that the American hostages will be released soon because America is in a state of clear aggression against the Islamic nation,” Hussein Moussawi, a senior member of Hezbollah (Party of God), said.
“Releasing the American hostages now would be a reward to the Americans for their invasion of the gulf,” Moussawi said.
“As for the other European hostages, be they Britons or others, their situation is different than that of the Americans,” he added.
A Beirut newspaper reported today that all Western hostages in Lebanon could be free by the end of the year. The leftist As-Safir newspaper said secret contacts are taking place between Tehran and Lebanese and Palestinian groups with links to the hostage-takers.
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