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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Iranian leader focus of probe

Anne Gearan Associated Press

WASHINGTON – An internal government review has turned up no conclusive evidence that Iran’s new hardline president was closely involved in the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, U.S. officials say, although former hostages have identified him as one of their captors.

A secret U.S. intelligence report circulated this week describes what U.S. investigators have been able to piece together about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s activities as a student leader, government officials familiar with the document said.

“I don’t think we’ve seen any smoking gun yet,” one official said Friday. Like others, the official would discuss the findings only in general terms and on condition of anonymity because the full report is classified and the review is ongoing.

The initial review has turned up no evidence that Ahmadinejad was part of the core group of hostage-takers who held Americans for 444 days but indicates that he may have been in contact with them or moved in the same circles, one official said.

Two weeks ago, the White House said Ahmadinejad was a leader of the student movement that orchestrated the embassy seizure. His own political associates have said as much, but they also denied he had a role in terrorism.

Militant students seized the embassy and held the U.S. hostages in reprisal for Washington’s refusal to surrender ousted Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi for trial. The shah had fled Iran earlier that year after he was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution.

The hostage crisis weakened then-President Carter, contributing to his re-election loss to Ronald Reagan.

Sorting out Ahmadinejad’s role has been difficult, requiring officials to unearth 25-year-old photographs and reread interviews with former hostages done shortly after their release.

The Iranian news media have identified Ahmadinejad as a student leader but said he opposed the embassy takeover because he preferred instead to target the Soviet Embassy.

President Bush indicated Thursday that Ahmadinejad will receive a U.S. visa to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly gathering in New York next month. The State Department had considered denying the Iranian leader entry if the investigation showed direct links to terrorism.

Bush said that U.S. investigators have not fully determined Ahmadinejad’s role, but the United States has separate obligations to other countries as the host nation for the United Nations, which is headquartered in New York.

“We have an agreement with the United Nations to allow people to come to meet, and I suspect he will be here to meet at the United Nations,” Bush said.

As host, the United States is obligated under U.N. rules to approve visas to foreign leaders no matter their relations with the United States, and no one has ever been barred.