Waldheim Will Seek Release of Western Captives

VIENNA — Austrian President Kurt Waldheim will seek the release of 11 Western hostages held in Lebanon during a trip to Iran, the first by a Western head of state since the 1979 revolution, a newspaper reported Saturday.

Waldheim, who leaves today for Tehran, is scheduled to confer with President Hashemi Rafsanjani and Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati. He will also visit Syrian President Hafez Assad.

The foreign ministers of France, Germany and Italy have gone to Tehran in recent weeks after Rafsanjani has indicated its willingness to revive contact and trade with the West.

The Der Standard newspaper quoted Foreign Minister Alois Mock as saying: “I believe that, based on his extraordinarily high prestige in those (Mideast) countries, the federal president’s efforts to win the release of hostages held in Lebanon have greater chances than legitimate attempts by other statesmen.”

As U.N. secretary-general, Waldheim went to Tehran in January, 1980, in an unsuccessful effort to win the release of 52 hostages held inside the U.S. Embassy. The Americans were released in 1981.

Waldheim has been largely shunned by Western governments since controversy over his World War II past surfaced during his 1986 election.

Six Americans are believed held by pro-Iranian extremists in Lebanon. The longest held is Terry Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent of Associated Press, who was abducted March 16, 1985.

Two Britons, two Germans and an Italian are also hostages.