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The Battalion
Vol. 73 No. 141
24 Pages in 2 Sections
Thursday, April 17, 1980
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
lined and .M • J _ ■ #
Jran waits tor summer to tree captives
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Bani-Sadr charges America backed out of secret plan
United Press International
®HRAN, Iran — A powerful member
i ^ Iran’s ruling Revolutionary Council
a lid today the 50 American hostages may
■ _M>e freed until midsummer.
■
t'Aaapanese newspaper said today Iranian
trident Abolhassan Bani-Sadr charged
^United States reneged on a secret plan
yjatwould have transferred the hostages in
f'lehrun from the U.S. Embassy to a hospit-
As part of the plan, the shah would have
|":e| arrested, Bani-Sadr said.
4 Mohammad Beheshti, an influential
ember of the Revolutionary Council and
p of the religious Islamic Republican
Party expected to dominate Iran’s new 270-
seat parliament, said the legislature would
not debate the release of the hostages be
fore “June or July.”
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini has
charged the new parliament with deciding
the fate of the hostages held for 166 days.
But organizational problems and charges of
voting fraud in the first stage of the ballot
ing have set back the parliament’s election.
Wednesday, Iran’s Pars news agency
said the Revolutionary Council is consider
ing postponing the second round of the
elections one week, from May 2 to May 9.
In remarks published today, Beheshti
predicted the 50 hostages would still be in
captivity through May.
Asked when the parliament would take
up the issue of granting freedom to the
hostages, he said: “Perhaps in June or
July.”
The Asahi Evening News reported that
Bani-Sadr told an Asahi Shimbun reporter
in Ahvaz in southern Iran that the secret
deal involved having the United Nations
Inquiry Commission present a secret sec
ret report to Iran if it found the conditions
of the American hostages unsatisfactory.
Bani-Sadr said deposed Shah Moham
med Reza Pahlavi was to be arrested in
Panama and questioned and the Panama
nian government was to consider Iranian
demands for the shah’s extradition.
But Bani-Sadr contended former U.S.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger encour
aged the shah to flee from Panama to Egypt
and the United States broke its promise not
to obstruct the inquiry into the Shah’s acti
vities. The story gave no specifics.
The Moslem militants holding the hos
tages called for a major anti-American de
monstration at the U.S. Embassy today to
mark the funeral of an Iranian student kil
led in the United States.
The militants said they would lead de
monstrations marking the funeral of Bijan
Ashtiani, an Iranian student “martyred” in
Lincoln, Neb. The body of the student was
being flown into Tehran today.
A militant communique broadcast by the
state radio said:
“The successive massacres and geno
cides of the ruling body of the U.S. in most
parts of the world, their crimes and inter
ference and also their savage treatment of
the Iranian students have made them so
scandalous that there is opportunity for de
ception and trickery.”
(In Lincoln, Neb., authorities said
Ashtiani, a student at the University of
Nebraska-Omaha, died of an “epileptic
like seizure.” The student had been under
going court-ordered psychiatric tests in an
institution.)
In Washington, White House officials in
dicated President Carter might impose
more sanctions on Iran this week in an
effort to increase the pressure on
Khomeini’s regime to free the captives.
But the White House described as “in
accurate” a Boston Globe report that Car
ter might order a naval blockade of Iran
after the week beginning May 11 if the
hostage impasse is not broken by then.
Carter prepares
to ban medicine,
food for Iran
At the top
Anxious spectators watch as Guy Sandel adds the last computer card to his
team’s entry in the Annual Compture Card Stacking Contest at Texas
A&M. Judge, at left, is about to measure the tower, which won the contest
with a height of 16 feet, 3 inches. To find out how the rest of the
competition staked up, see today’s Focus.
Staff photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Carter is
preparing to ban the shipment of food and
medicine to Iran, White House officials
say, twisting the screws a little tighter on
Tehran for the retention of the American
hostages.
But no decision has been made on a naval
blockade that would cut off Iran’s oil ex
ports.
Carter exempted food and medicine
from the trade sanctions he imposed last
April..? when he broke diplomatic relations
with Iran.
The presidential announcement on addi
tional sanctions will come this week, offi
cials said, possibly at a news conference,
tentatively set for today.
Press secretary Jody Powell told repor
ters the new retaliatory steps will be
“meaningful and constructive” and indi
cated they could be better implemented in
the context of similar actions by America’s
allies.
Asked why the additional pressure now,
Powell said, “Because our people are not
yet free.”
“He’s not decided on a blockade at all,”
Powell said, referring to reports the presi
dent was thinking of bottling up Iranian
shipping.
Powell confirmed the next big step may
come in mid-May.
“You are aware that the United States
has advised others we would feel that mid-
May is the time period we feel is sufficient”
to impose new major restraints on Iran if it
does not respond by then, Powell said.
He said the timetable depends on the
“president’s best judgment.”
Meantime, White House aides indicate
that Iran already may be suffering some
what from the sanctions already imposed.
There were reports that the banning of the
sale of spare parts to Iran, with some allies
following suit, has hampered Iran’s military
capability.
The president has put the pressure on
European allies and Japan to follow suit
with economic sanctions against Iran. The
Common Market foreign ministers are
meeting April 21 in Luxembourg and may
dfecide to provide more support for the Un
ited States.
Speaker Thomas O’Neill, who attended a
White House breakfast session Wednes
day, indicated Carter is looking for a better
response from the allies.
“I don’t think that he is completely satis
fied,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill said he would have ordered a
naval blockade from the time when the
hostages were taken 166 days ago.
“I would have acted a lot tougher from
the start, to be perfectly truthful,” he said.
“I would have put sanctions right in from
the start. I would have gone in with a block
ade from the start.”
O’Neill said he also was dissatisfied with
the response of the allies. “We’ve been
pretty good to the world for the past 30
years,” he said, and the allies should have
shown the United States the “courtesy” of
full support.
White House aides, meantime, have
ruled out confiscation of the $8 billion in
Iranian assets now frozen in U.S. banks.
srael, Egypt agree to go to talks
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minis-
Menachem Begin returns home today
with an agreement with Egypt for a new
intensive round of negotiations on Palesti-
(nian autonomy meant to reach an accord by
(May 26.
^’resident Carter announced after a third
[meeting with Begin Wednesday that Egyp-
ttian President Anwar Sadat had approved
the Israeli proposal for marathon talks to be
held for 20 days in Israel and 20 days in
igypt, starting in about 10 days.
j Begin told a news conference there also
was progress on some other issues, but he
fused to give specifics, saying Sadat had
to be informed first.
But sources close to the talks said there
•Was vital headway made on several out-
iding procedural matters that have stal
led the delicate negotiations — such as the
lues that a committee — called for in the
mp David framework — would discuss
in the period after the autonomy plan for
1 the West Bank and Gaza Strip is instituted.
H The sources said matters such as the dis
tribution and use of the limited water facili-
1 ties in the territories could be put off for
(that “continuing committee” to consider
(lather than holding up the broader auton
omy talks until such questions are ham
mered out.
And the committee might also be able to
.take up issues beyond those specified in the
;||Camp David agreements.
The negotiations that will determine the
I fl jiitureofthe 1.1 million Palestinians living
|k m the territories controlled by Israel since
1967 have been stalled for months but are
rgeted to end in less than six weeks.
“We still have a long way to go to reach
the May 26 goal,” Carter said at the end of
his third meeting with Begin. “I believe we
have made good progress.”
But Begin made it clear the May 26 date
is “neither a deadline nor a target date, it is
a goal.” And while there is “a chance” of an
agreement by then, he said the talks would
continue beyond that date if need be.
“We believe we will now have a very
concerted effort” on the question of self-
rule for the Palestinians, the president
said.
Carter called his more than six hours of
talks with Begin over two days “very con
structive and productive” and the Israeli
leader echoed his feelings.
Begin proposed holding the speeded-up
autonomy talks in the Middle East,
although Sadat and Carter suggested when
they met last week that the discussions
should be shifted to Washington. Begin,
however, felt the ministers involved should
be closer to their capitals and Sadat agreed
to the plan.
Carter said it would be a “tragedy” if the
talks fail, adding there were still “difficult
issues” to be solved.
Begin said Carter did not ask for a freeze
of Israeli settlement activity in the remain
ing weeks of the autonomy talks and the
prime minister emphasized the importance
of the outposts as Israel’s “wall of defense”
against terrorist attacks.
National Archives wants to release
31 unedited Watergate tapes
United Press International
WASHINGTON — If the National Arc
hives has its way, Americans would be
allowed as early as next month to listen to
the tapes of Richard Nixon used in the
Watergate cover-up trial — including the
one with the ISVi-minute erasure.
Archives officials said Wednesday they
plan to make public 31 unedited tapes of
conversations involving Nixon and his aides
at a listening center in the main archives
building in Washington beginning May 26.
But the proposal for release of the tapes,
to be published in Monday’s Federal Regis
ter, is expected to draw challenges from
some of the 15 officials whose voices were
recorded, often while they used profanity.
Any such legal battle could cause lengthy
delays in the archives’ plans.
Nixon’s lawyer, R. Stan Mortenson, said
he is undecided about whether to challenge
the plan. He noted he was less concerned
about the release of the Watergate tapes
than other Nixon tapes because they
already have been made public.
Lawyers for two other key characters on
the tapes — former Attorney General John
Mitchell and former White House chief of
staff H.R. Haldeman — could not be
reached for comment Wednesday.
Officials said that if there are no protests
to the plan within 30 days, the 121/2 hours of
tapes would be made available on a first-
come, first-served basis in an archives re
search room containing 24 listening posts.
The tapes would be played on a con
tinuous schedule, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.,
over a four-day period until completed and
then repeated. Listeners could not record
the tapes but could take notes and would
have access to a transcript.
The tapes have been grouped into 15
segments, consisting of one to five conver
sations and ranging from 45 to 111 minutes.
After each segment, the listening area
would be cleared, with readmission on a
first-come, first-served basis.
After the anticipated initial crush of in
terest, the archives plans to allow resear
chers to listen to specific tapes and replay
sections.
It would mark the first time the public —
except those who attended the Watergate
coverup trial — could hear Nixon’s secret
Oval Office conversations and judge fir
sthand his role in the Watergate scandal.
The General Services Administration
last month cleared the way for release of the
tapes by adopting revised regulations for
implementing the 1974 Presidential Re
cordings and Materials Preservation Act,
which provides for public release of such
materials.
The 31 tapes include those played at the
cover-up trial of former Attorney General
John Mitchell, Nixon advisers H.R. Halde
man and John Ehrlichmann, and two cam
paign aides. There also is one tape from the
milk scandal trial of former Treasury Sec
retary John Connally.
Included is a conversation between Nix
on and Haldeman June 20, 1972 — three
days after the break-in at Democratic head
quarters at the Watergate — that later was
found to have an IS-Vi minute erasure. It
never was officially determined who erased
the tape.
Bill to ban
PCB totals
$20 million
United Press International
WASHINGTON — With threat of
PCB contamination of food reaching
“alarming proportions,” the Agriculture
Department will propose a regulation to
force meat, poultry and egg processing
plants to get rid of PCB in old equip
ment.
Within two weeks, Deputy Assistant
Secretary Sydney Butler said Wednes
day, the department will propose a reg
ulation that would force companies to
replace equipment with PCB and to
flush the highly toxic chemical from
electrical transformers and other equip
ment.
Removal and disposal of PCB would
cost industry $20 million to $40 million,
but cost would be relatively small when
matched with costs of PCB contamina
tion accidents, Butler told the House
Consumer Protection and Finance Sub
committee.
PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls,
have been used for industrial uses for
more than a half century. Manufacture
was prohibited in 1977 because PCB
was linked to cancer and other illnesses,
but the chemical is still present in old
transformer equipment.
“The danger of PCB contamination of
the nation’s food supply has now
assumed rather alarming proportions,”
Butler said.
He said the problem “poses signifi
cant health risks to American consumers
and an economic threat to the food in
dustry. ”