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  Tehran to PUY $105 Million; Larger Disputes Still on Table
  By Nora Boustany
  Washington Post Staff writer
       The United States and Iran
  signed an agreement over the
  weekend to settle 2,795 small U.S.
  claims as well as a few U.S. govern-
  ment claims against Tehran with a
  lump sum payment of $105 million,
  State Department officials an-
  nounced yesterday.
       The agreement will allow U.S.
  and Iranian negotiators to concen-
  trate on large financial disputes be-
  tween the two nations.
       A State Department specialist
  said that the agreement, signed
  Sunday in The Hague, resolved
  both a "large number" of claims by
  ,American nationals, each for
  $250,000 or less, and "10 loans
  from the government of the United
  States to the government of Iran
  for various assistance purposes."
       Among the major disputes yet to
  be settled by the Iran-U.S. Claims
  Tribunal in The Hague is Iran's
  claim of more than $10 billion for
  undelivered U.S. military goods and
  services. Iran claims that the gov-
  ernment of the late Shah Moham-
  rnad Reza Pahlavi paid that amount
  on contracts that were broken after
  the 1979 revolution.
       "Some of their figures are quite
  fantastic. Obviously, our view and
  the Iranian view of what they have
  are very far apart," said one senior
  official,
       The tribunal, set up in 1981 un-
  der an accord that freed 52 Amer-

  
  icans held hostage at the U.S. Em-
  bassy compound in Tehran, is the
  sole forum for official contact be-
  tween both countries since the rup-
  ture in U.S,-Iranian ties,
       -rhe advantages to the U.S. are
  fairly clear. It resolves a very large
  portion of the claims tribunal's
  work load, which hopefully will
  make it possible to turn its atten-
  tion to the remainder of its cases
  and finish its work much more
  quickly. Secondly, it assures that
  compensation will get to these
  claimants much faster," a senior
  State Department official said of
  the accord.
       Those claimants include U.S.
  companies that had property seized
  or were not paid for goods and ser-
  vices delivered to Iran as well as
  individuals who were forced to exit
  under emergency circumstances,
  without being compensated for
  property or back salary and wages.
       The United States also has ten-
  tatively agreed to pay Tehran
  $400,000 to settle 108 small claims
  from Iranians. Included is a claim
  for personal property left behind by
  Iranian naval cadets who had to sus-
  pend training in the United States
  after the hostages were seized.
       The U.S. administration and chief
  Iranian negotiator Ali Nobari insist
  there is no connection between the
  recent releases of two U.S. hos-
  tages in Beirut and the small claims
  negotiations. Iran experts said,
  however, that any settlement could
  only help Iranian President Ali
  Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani or oth-
  ers pushing for further hostage re-
  leases as an indication that a More
  flexible policy toward Washingi
  has its rewards.
       On Sunday, the commander of
  the South Lebanon Army militia,
  Gen. Antoine Lahd, said he was
  ready to swap some Shiite Leba-
  nese detainees for 16 western hos-

  
  tages and three Israeli servicemen.
  ADVERTISEMENT
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