Word: rafsanjani
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...thank-you notes to friends, political allies and even perfect strangers. This ever growing list of correspondents has served Bush well in difficult times, and may soon do so again. Last week the President added a new name to his address book: that of Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani...
...hardly likely to become pen pals. But as the U.S. Government once again searched for a way to free American hostages held in the Middle East, Bush's communications with Rafsanjani have moved from cautious feelers through intermediaries to more direct, leader-to-leader messages. Working closely with his top foreign policy advisers, the President personally authored several of the diplomatic notes sent to Iran through Swiss embassy channels...
...series of interviews and statements aimed at newly elected President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatist considered eager to end the isolation of the Khomeini era and repair his shattered economy, Bush held out the possibility of warmer relations in exchange for help in freeing the U.S. hostages. While Bush did not disavow the Reagan-era prohibition against direct bargaining with terrorists, he shifted ground enough to make some kind of negotiation possible. His private communiques, sent via the Swiss embassy in Tehran and other intermediaries, elicited encouraging replies from Rafsanjani...
...ites would have to participate, however indirectly, in any deal. Even friendly relations between Bush and Rafsanjani are no guarantee of the captives' return. While Iran exerts influence over Hizballah, which it has been bankrolling since 1982 at an estimated $60 million a year, no one knows precisely how much control Tehran has over the disposition of the hostages. At least seven factions, each with its own agenda, have claimed responsibility for one or more kidnapings since the wave of terrorism began seven years ago. In the end, the particular interests of these small and shadowy groups that operate under...
...hostages are also pawns in the games played by powerful Middle East states. In Iran, they are part of a domestic power struggle between Rafsanjani and his hard-line Interior Minister, Ali Akbar Mohtashami, who served as paymaster to Hizballah in the early 1980s. Experts feel that Mohtashami's - ability to sustain the hostage holding will be a litmus test of his power under the newly elected President. Syria, which maintains about 25,000 troops in Lebanon, could improve its relations with the West by rescuing the hostages, but it wields little influence over the Shi'ites who hold them...