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- <text id=90TT1284>
- <title>
- May 21, 1990: World Notes:Iran
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- May 21, 1990 John Sununu:Bush's Bad Cop
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- WORLD, Page 44
- World Notes
- IRAN
- Clearing the Underbrush
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> After eight years of haggling, Iranian and American
- negotiators have tentatively agreed to settle some of the
- financial claims dating from the overthrow of the Shah's
- government. The package covers 2,370 small claims by U.S.
- citizens and companies for private property seized in Iran, and
- 108 by Iranians for undelivered goods.
- </p>
- <p> The obvious question about the deal was whether it had any
- connection with the release of two American hostages in Lebanon
- last month or the prospect of future releases. Washington and
- Tehran both said no, and it seems the U.S. will receive far
- more in payments--$105 million, vs. only about $400,000 for
- Tehran. Some $3.5 billion in Iranian assets remain frozen.
- </p>
- <p> Indirectly, of course, Tehran gets a boost. Settlements of
- this sort will help President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ease
- his country back into the trade and economic relationships it
- so badly needs with the rest of the world. And if he cares to
- regard it as evidence that a conciliatory approach to the U.S.
- pays off, all the better.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-