IRAN: Banisadr's Jolting Defeat

In a test of wills over the hostages, the militants win

There are, it now appears, two sets of hostages in Tehran. One consists of the 50 Americans who have been held prisoner at the U.S. embassy by Iranian student militants for 4½ months. The other is the fledgling government of President Abolhassan Banisadr. Ending an intense battle of wills between the militants and the government over the fate of the hostages, the ailing spiritual leader of Iran's revolution, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, decreed last week that a five-member United Nations commission could...