Iraqis Begin Iran Pullback : Concern Over Americans in Baghdad

Iraq began pulling as many as 30 army divisions from the border with Iran today and 1,000 Iranian prisoners of war returned home to an ecstatic welcome--parts of the Iraqi campaign to focus on the escalating confrontation with the United States.

President Saddam Hussein ordered the pullout from his eastern flank, promising former foe Tehran “everything you wanted” in order to free as many as 300,000 troops of his million-strong army.

The first batch of prisoners arrived in the Iranian border town of Qasr-e Shirin just after noon. “We welcome your blessed arrival,” said President Hashemi Rafsanjani in a message.

Tehran radio called on all Iranians to go to their rooftops and together shout “God is great!” to give thanks.

Iran and Iraq hold a total of about 100,000 captives, many seized nearly a decade ago in the opening days of a war which caused 1 million casualties.

“My son has been a prisoner for seven years, six months and five days,” said Hamid Sajjadehchi, a merchant in the Tehran bazaar. “My prayers have been answered.”

Tehran Radio interrupted its normal morning program to announce that Iraqi troops had begun withdrawing from Iranian territory. It said Iranian officers monitoring the development reported the withdrawal got under way at 5 a.m.

Morteza Sarmadi, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, reported 10 hours later that the Iraqis had withdrawn from 164 square miles of Iranian territory in the Ilam region, on the central sector of the Iran-Iraq border.

In Baghdad, a group of 35 Americans were moved from their hotel to an unknown location but the State Department said in Washington today that it had received assurances that they were safe.

Department spokesman Richard Boucher stuck to the U.S. position of not calling the Americans hostages but insisted: “We want immediate confirmation of where the 35 are, and we want access to them.”

President Bush, speaking to reporters at his vacation home in Kennebunkport, Me., said: “I don’t think anybody ought to be moved against their will. It is a contravention of international law.”

The Americans, including 11 oil workers, were moved sometime Thursday from the Rashid Hotel, where they were staying, after U.S. consular officers for the first time were denied access to the hotel, Boucher said.

The United States believes they may have been taken to the Melia Mansoor Hotel, but so far American officials have been unable to secure Iraqi permission to enter the facility, he said. About 175 French, British and Germans and six Americans had been staying at that hotel.

“We’re not positive that the 35 Americans are at the Melia Mansoor, but our embassy officers have checked other hotels and the only one where they have been denied access is the Melia Mansoor,” he said.

At the United Nations today, the Security Council expressed “concern and anxiety” about the plight of foreign nationals detained in Kuwait and Iraq and asked Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar to take appropriate, but unspecified, action.