Word: mohtashami
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Whatever Rafsanjani's intentions, it is Iran's radical opposition, led by former Interior Minister Ali Akbar Mohtashami, that maintains the closest ties with the hostage takers -- and even Mohtashami has only limited sway over them. Last week the Revolutionary Justice Organization, which has three hostages, vowed, "There is no intention to release hostages." Meanwhile, it was disclosed that last month President Bush accepted a phone call from an impostor claiming to be Rafsanjani. Though they do not know for sure, White House officials think the hoax was perhaps perpetrated by Mohtashami's faction to embarrass Rafsanjani...
Iran's Rafsanjani is believed by Washington to be anxious to dispose of the hostage issue quickly so he can open his war-ravaged country to the outside world. But powerful hard-liners still want to block any contact with the West. Former Interior Minister Ali Akbar Mohtashami, one of the most intransigent of the revolutionary mullahs, was excluded from Rafsanjani's government earlier this year. He can still get mobs out into the streets, however, as he proved by leading large anti-American demonstrations in Tehran earlier this month to mark the tenth anniversary of the seizure...
...hostages are also pawns in the games played by powerful Middle East states. In Iran, they are part of a domestic power struggle between Rafsanjani and his hard-line Interior Minister, Ali Akbar Mohtashami, who served as paymaster to Hizballah in the early 1980s. Experts feel that Mohtashami's - ability to sustain the hostage holding will be a litmus test of his power under the newly elected President. Syria, which maintains about 25,000 troops in Lebanon, could improve its relations with the West by rescuing the hostages, but it wields little influence over the Shi'ites who hold them...
...Rafsanjani's earlier words of conciliation toward a nation the Ayatullah Khomeini labeled the Great Satan indicate a major change since Khomeini's death in June. Rafsanjani appears to have moved with surprising quickness to consolidate his leadership against challenges from more radical mullahs, particularly Interior Minister Ali Akbar Mohtashami, the principal link between Tehran and Hizballah in Lebanon. There are signs that the new President is also gaining influence over Hizballah, as he must if he is to deliver on any promises to help in the hostage situation. When Hizballah leaders went to Tehran several weeks ago to express...
...which has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since 1980, expressed support for France's firm stance. The Reagan Administration was engaged in its own war of words with Tehran. Interior Minister Mohtashami vowed retaliation if the U.S. proceeded this week with its plans to reflag Kuwaiti tankers and use American warships to protect the vessels in the Persian Gulf. Said Mohtashami: "Islamic Revolutionary Guards will turn the Persian Gulf into a graveyard for the Americans." According to some reports, Iran has mobilized seaborne suicide squads, who plan to ram U.S. ships with vessels that have been turned into floating...