White House ‘looking into’ Iranian leader

updated 7:49 p.m. ET June 30, 2005

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Thursday that "many questions" have been raised by allegations of some former American hostages that Iran's president-elect was one of their captors in the late 1970s.

"I have no information," Bush said in an interview with foreign reporters ahead of a trip to Scotland next week. "But obviously his involvement raises many questions."

Afterward, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said that Bush was referring to reports suggesting Iranian president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's involvement in the 1979 hostage crisis at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

McClellan said the White House is taking the allegations seriously and "looking into them to better understand the facts."

Former hostages Chuck Scott, David Roeder, William J. Daugherty and Don A. Sharer told The Associated Press that after seeing Ahmadinejad on television, they have no doubt he was one of the hostage-takers. A fifth ex-hostage, Kevin Hermening, said he reached the same conclusion after looking at photos. A close aide to Ahmadinejad denied the president-elect took part in the seizure of the embassy or in holding Americans hostage.

The hostage-taking, which came in reprisal for Washington's refusal to surrender ousted Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi for trial there, contributed substantially to then-President Jimmy Carter's defeat by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election.

Militant students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979, and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. The shah had fled Iran earlier that year after he was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution.

At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said, "We are now seeking to establish all the facts."

He said the U.S. hostages had not been forgotten and "the Iranians have an obligation to speak definitively."

FREE VIDEO Ex-hostage speaks June 30: Donald Sharer, a former hostage in Iran who claims the new Iranian president-elect was among his captors, talks with "Today" show anchor Matt Lauer. Today show

McCormack would not say whether the United States would attempt to discuss the situation directly with Iran. There are no direct U.S. relations with Iran, but diplomats from the two countries have participated in joint meetings involving other nations.

Another former hostage, retired Air Force Col. Thomas E. Schaefer, said he doesn't recognize Ahmadinejad as one of his captors. Several former students among the hostage-takers also said they did not believe that Ahmadinejad had taken part in it.

Bush more concerned with Iranian nuclear ambitions
Bush suggested these questions are not his primary concern since Ahmadinejad was elected. Instead, he said, he wants to ensure that Britain, France and Germany, who have been negotiating with Iran to stop its alleged nuclear ambitions, make absolutely clear to Ahmadinejad that a nuclear-armed Iran will not be tolerated.

"We've got a new man who's assumed power and he must hear a focused message," the president said. "That's where my attention is focused right now."

Several of the former hostages insisted they were certain that the president-elect was among their captors. Daugherty said it's further evidence that the State Department should stop defending Iran's immunity from lawsuits filed by the former hostages seeking reparations.

In April 2002, a federal judge threw out a lawsuit by the hostages seeking $33 billion in damages. The State Department intervened, arguing the lawsuit would violate the U.S.-Iranian agreements that freed the hostages and would damage U.S. credibility.

"This puts the Bush administration in an interesting position," Daugherty said. "You know how he said, 'You're either for us or you're for the terrorists.' Well, now the leader of Iran is a terrorist."

Ahmadinejad was a member of the Office of Strengthening Unity, the student organization that planned the embassy takeover, but he was opposed to taking the U.S. Embassy, several of his associates said.

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