Word: waldheim
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Every detail of the U.N. mission was haggled over. At a packed Manhattan news conference, U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim announced the formation of what he very carefully termed "a commission of inquiry" that would "undertake a fact-finding mission." This appeared to mean that the group was not to be a tribunal, something that the Iranians had requested and the U.S. had strongly opposed. Waldheim added that the commission "will complete its work as soon as possible and submit its report to the Secretary-General...
...Washington and at the U.N. insisted that such a package was still being worked on-it is "a gentleman's agreement," said one of the U.N. envoys -and that Banisadr had to sound tough because he still lacks control over the young militants who hold the hostages. Said Waldheim, in his office during an interview with TIME last Friday: "I am confident that we shall find a solution, though nobody can say when." And a senior State Department aide summed up the latest impasse by saying, "We are now in a dance where it's two steps forward...
Precisely how the commission is to function remained unclear. Waldheim said that the panel would establish its own procedures and set its own agenda. Syria's Daoudy told TIME that "this is not an investigation in the juridical sense; not a grand jury, much less a court...
Iran's Banisadr, however, insisted that the commission would investigate "the crimes of the ex-Shah and American intervention in Iran." What the Waldheim announcement had said was that the panel would "hear Iran's grievances" and "allow for early solution" of the U.S.-Iranian crisis. In addition, the commission was to "speak to each of the hostages." This is important to the Administration because so far no one has seen each of the 50 Americans being held at the embassy, or the three held at the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The White House thus insisted, as a condition...
...week of turmoil and confusion began in a spirit of considerable optimism. On Monday, Feb. 18, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance slipped quietly into Manhattan and closeted himself at the U.N. for 6½ hours, obtaining from Waldheim what he thought were assurances of the commission's key elements. Vance insisted, for example, that the panel would not sit as a court, hold a trial or reach a verdict. Yes, Waldheim assured him, Tehran understood that. Vance persisted, saying that he would feel better if it were on paper. The Secretary-General said that he would get the terms...