FINDING AIDS

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March 9, 1980

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His Excellency
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Islamic Republic of Iran

Dear Mr. Minister,

I write in some alarm at the new delays that seem to have befallen your efforts to achieve the first step in a release of the hostages--namely their transfer from the custody of the students to that of the Revolutionary Council.

Someone may say that a delay of another day or two is not all that serious. But Mr. Minister, after more than four months of illegal captivity, even another hour of captivity is surely too much. No amount of assurance to the effect that the hostages are being "well treated" can compensate for their ill treatment represented by the continued violation of their rights as diplomats, the painful separation from their families, and the total denial to them of any word as to what their government may be trying to do for them.

Mr. Minister, my letter is not designed as a tear-jerker to carry sympathy. It is instead a straight-forward request to you and the other members of the Revolutionary Council, and indeed the Ayatollah Khomeini himself, to recognize that these 50 hostages are human beings, men and women, and not 50 inanimate objects with which the students at the Embassy should be allowed to bargain.

Indeed I am pained to conclude that these 50 people are no longer simply hostages, held pending progress in resolution of the crisis between our two countries. Instead they are now being increasingly used as pawns in a political power struggle within the emerging Iranian body politic.

That, Mr. Minister, is intolerable for a single minute moment. I am sure you must agree.

I recognize, and warmly welcome, the efforts that you and others are making to achieve progress on this matter. Nonetheless I ask, on behalf of my government, that the concern I express above be conveyed to the all the members of the Revolutionary Council and also to the Ayatollah Khomeini, whose voice now would contribute so much to progress on the problem.

Sincerely,

LBL
cda [Charge d'Affaires]