Word: tehran
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Like several other events that shook the Middle East last week, the hijacking was almost certainly related to the 6 1/2-year-old war between Iraq and Iran. In Tehran, the government of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini denied involvement and said it condemned "any moves that may threaten the lives of innocent passengers." But in Lebanon, several terrorist groups, including the pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for the hijacking. One survivor of the crash reported that the terrorists spoke with southern Lebanese accents, implying that they were indeed Shi'ite fundamentalists loyal to Khomeini...
...hijacking came only hours after a burst of renewed fighting in the gulf war. Early last week the Iraqis staged heavy air raids on Iranian industrial centers and troop concentrations in the hope of heading off Tehran's long- awaited "final offensive," for which the Iranians have amassed an estimated 650,000 troops along the 730-mile front. According to Iraq, Iranian forces launched a Christmas Eve assault aimed at capturing the southern Iraqi city of Basra but were repulsed by Iraqi troops after suffering huge losses. The Iranians, on the other hand, claimed they had merely been trying...
...fact, the latest attack appeared to be neither a serious defeat for the Iranians nor the first round in Tehran's long-threatened offensive, which is expected to begin sometime before March. Rather it seemed to have been an Iranian effort to test Iraqi defenses along the southern front. Nonetheless, the recent Iraqi aerial bombardment may be causing morale problems within Iran. The Khomeini government cannot afford a serious setback on the battlefield, but neither can it afford a widespread civilian reaction against the stalemated...
...already been in touch with the Iranians through a shadowy network: Khashoggi, Manucher Ghorbanifar -- an expatriate Iranian arms dealer -- and Israeli arms merchants were all part of it. The Israeli government, said Kimche, had confidence these Iranian contacts would eventually prevail in the power struggle already beginning in Tehran over the succession to the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini...
McFarlane came back into the picture in April, when his successor Poindexter phoned him to suggest a mission to Tehran. Poindexter believed the U.S. had an agreement for the release of all remaining hostages. On May 28, after his CIA briefing, McFarlane, along with North, NSC Middle East Specialist Howard Teicher and George Cave, former CIA deputy station chief in Tehran, flew to Iran. As soon as he arrived in Tehran, McFarlane phoned Washington and learned that no hostages had been released. Things went downhill from there. During three days of talks the American quartet met only officials who appeared...