Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 10, 1990 TAG: 9005100222
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Negotiators for both countries also agreed to settle 108 Iranian claims against the United States and U.S. companies and individuals for $400,000, deputy spokesman Richard Boucher said.
The text of the agreement settling claims of up to $250,000 remains to be worked out, signed and ratified by the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, which was established under the 1981 Algiers Accord which resulted in the release of U.S. hostages held by Iranian militants at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
"The proposed settlement is the results of many months of effort," Boucher said, noting that negotiators discussed the issue at meetings held almost every month since last April.
Meanwhile, a department official, who commented on condition he not be identified, said he could not predict whether the agreement will result in the release of U.S. hostages held in Lebanon.
Department officials have said repeatedly that there is no link between the negotiations to settle the claims and the hostage situation. They maintain that the talks at The Hague in the Netherlands are not a forum in which hostages are discussed.
The Bush administration has repeatedly declared it will make no deals to obtain the release of the six remaining hostages.
Nonetheless, the final settlement of the claims issue could remove a longstanding irritant in U.S.-Iranian relations.
Boucher said some of the claims now near settlement involve U.S. government claims, including those involving loans to Iran made by the Agency for International Development.
Claims also include those for private U.S. property expropriated by Iran and for goods and services which were delivered but never paid for.
Still outstanding are claims by Iran for U.S. military equipment for which it contracted but did not receive.
by CNB