Iran: The Test of Wills

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of the Iranian regime is an abiding hatred of the deposed Shah. The object of all that emotion was closely guarded in New York Hospital, where he was recuperating from his gall bladder surgery and undergoing a series of radiation treatments for lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph glands, from which he has been suffering for six years. For these treatments, he was taken at least three times through a heavily guarded underground passage to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Some doctors said privately that the Shah could safely be moved within a few days, and that the treatment he needs could be administered in many places—in Mexico, Egypt or France, where he has been treated for his lymphoma in the past.

The way for his return to Mexico was presumably cleared when the Mexican government announced that as a precaution, it had temporarily closed its Tehran embassy and that the Shah was welcome to return to his exile in Cuernavaca. It had been presumed for days that having the Shah leave the U.S. would be a useful first step in resolving the plight of the hostages. But typical of the unpredictability of events was an announcement by the students in the embassy late in the week, that the flight of the Shah to any third country could result in "harsher decisions being taken against the hostages."

In Tehran, the political situation deteriorated markedly as the week passed. The rumors about Khomeini's health started after a Thursday meeting in Qum. "I'm not feeling well," confessed the Ayatullah to his followers. He then launched into a feverish attack on the U.S. Said he: "The U.S. has grabbed our money just like thieves. We should not fall for their propaganda." An aide reported that Khomeini was suffering from a flu virus communicated to him by "various visitors who have come to Qum in that condition." Said one observer: "The Imam has never sounded this bad before."

Khomeini evidently insisted to his colleagues that they stand firm against the increasing American pressures. Hassan Habibi, the newly appointed spokesman for the Revolutionary Council, reaffirmed the government's position on the hostages: "We are not going to retreat in the face of U.S. imperialism. We are asking for the extradition of an international criminal, and the U.S. cannot long continue its aggressive reaction to our demand." He disclosed that Iran and Libya had agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations after a break of several years. The two countries had been especially at odds for the past year, following the disappearance and alleged assassination in Libya of the leader of Lebanon's Shi'ite community, Imam Moussa Sadr. The reconciliation was interpreted as a victory for the hardline Muslim radicals in the Iranian leadership, who have been arguing for closer ties with Libya in spite of the Moussa Sadr affair.

Amid all its other difficulties, the government was also distracted by an earthquake that destroyed at least nine villages in northeastern Iran and killed several hundred people. (A far more serious tremor in the same region last year had killed 25,000.) Khomeini declared the situation a "national calamity" and appealed for "Islamic help" in providing doctors, medicine and food. The U.S., which has repeatedly provided such aid in the past, was not called upon.

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