Word: banisadr
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Beneath Khomeini, the Iranian government is a babble of conflicting voices, some sounding bloodthirsty, others somewhat conciliatory. Acting Foreign Minister Abol Hassan Banisadr, who seems torn between two factions, managed to echo both themes at once last week. "If the U.S. Government intervenes militarily against Iran, all Iranians will fight to the last drop of blood," he proclaimed. But he also said: "The U.S., as a land of free people, can neither submit to the humiliation of surrendering a sick man [the Shah] to a regime such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, nor can it take any pleasure...
...major difficulty for the Administration was that throughout the week various Iranian authorities kept changing the terms of the bargaining. On Tuesday Acting Foreign Minister Abol Hassan Banisadr sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim. The letter implied that the hostages could be released if the U.S. agreed to turn over the Shah's personal fortune to Iran and "at least accept the investigation of the guilt of the former Shah and its consequences." The letter omitted any specific demand for the Shah's return. Some officials saw the beginnings of a compromise here, but Banisadr said later...
...Thursday, when Banisadr first said the Iranians might release some hostages, the student leaders actually occupying the embassy property quickly asserted that they took orders only from the Ayatullah Khomeini, and that nobody was going to be released until the U.S. had sent the Shah back to Iran. Admitted one White House official: "We don't know with any certainty who these students are or who's in charge. That doubles the trouble...
...failure to find some sort of compromise could also trigger a global banking panic, and that is something that would hurt Iran's creditors as much as Iran itself. Reports that Abol-Hassan Banisadr - said to be a leading candidate for Finance Minister in the regime that Ayatullah Khomeini wants to establish - plans to write off an undisclosed portion of Iran's foreign debt if cho sen for the post, were hardly reassuring. Said a Citibank vice president bravely: "Whatever comes out of this will be a sensible decision. Someone will be there with a level head...