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Another helping hand in the hostage crisis may have come from Iran, an even less likely source than Syria. Some State Department officials dismissed Tehran's role as negligible. But leaders of Hizballah, which has close ties to Iran and its Islamic revolution, were persuaded somehow to release four hostages who were held apart from the rest of the other TWA passengers. The arm twisting may have been performed by a delegation of Iranian officials visiting Damascus at the time. The prime intermediary would presumably have been its leader, Hashemi Rafsanjani, speaker of the Iranian parliament, who is reportedly seeking to improve Tehran's rock-bottom diplomatic image and was deeply embarrassed by Hizballah's role in the Beirut hijacking. Tehran, moreover, has reason to appear attentive to the desires of Assad, who has supported Iran in its nearly five-year-old war of attrition with Iraq.
The U.S. decision to press for the closing of the Beirut airport has already put new strains on Washington's relationship with Lebanon, to the extent that the government of Lebanon still exists as a functioning entity. The paralysis of the Lebanese leadership was never clearer than during the hostage crisis, when President Amin Gemayel was able to provide no substantive aid. Instead, Washington early on negotiated directly with Nabih Berri, leader of the Shi'ite Amal militia. Berri emerged from the hostage episode as an ascendant figure in Lebanon's factional struggles, and rising Shi'ite assertiveness will clearly remain a factor in the country's eventual shakeout. Despite the inevitable ballads about the crisis that have sprouted on U.S. radio stations with lyrics like "they're just chicken Shi'ites," the majority of those in that branch of Islam are peaceful and respectable, and Washington will have to take account of their aspirations.
The crisis temporarily drew Washington's attention away from the Middle East peace process, which is painfully slow even without distractions. Last week King Hussein provided a bit of momentum by meeting in the Jordanian resort town of Aqaba with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, leader of the only Arab nation that has concluded a peace treaty with Israel. The two leaders discussed details of the initiative, sponsored jointly by Hussein and Arafat, aimed at establishing a Palestinian homeland on the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip that would somehow be linked to Jordan. Hussein and Arafat are ! scheduled to propose a joint negotiating delegation. The question is whether Arafat can put together a list of prominent Palestinians who are not active in the P.L.O., a move that would intensify radical Arab opposition to his leadership. Washington refuses to bargain directly with that group on the ground that it has never recognized Israel's right to exist.