The Nation : Carter’s Rejection of Hostage Deal Told

The Jimmy Carter Administration considered--and then rejected--an arms dealer’s offer to trade up to $10 million in military spare parts for 52 American hostages held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1980, the Miami Herald reported. Quoting newly declassified government documents--mostly CIA and State Department memos--the newspaper said the plan was canceled because U.S. officials believed that go-between Houshang Lavi, an Iranian-born arms broker in New York, did not have the backing of then-Iranian President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr. Carter could not be reached for comment. The documents were turned over to Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary criminal justice subcommittee, as part of an investigation into whether the 1980 Reagan presidential campaign made a secret deal with Iran to exchange U.S. arms for hostages.