WORLD : Iran Hostage Mission Reported
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BEIRUT — A newspaper today reported that Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani had dispatched his brother to Lebanon in a new effort to win the release of Western hostages.
The conservative Beirut newspaper Ad Diyar said Mahmoud Hashemi, Rafsanjani’s brother, held meetings with leaders of Hezbollah, or Party of God, during a weeklong, unannounced visit that ended Tuesday.
The newspaper said the envoy also met with Hussein Moussawi, who heads the Islamic Amal movement based in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. The movement forms the pro-Syrian wing of Hezbollah, Iran’s main ally in Lebanon.
Ad-Diyar gave no further details, and a spokesman at the Iranian Embassy, who declined to be identified, said “we usually do not comment on such reports.”
Hezbollah is believed to be the umbrella for underground Shiite fanatics holding most of the 18 Western hostages in Lebanon. Eight Americans are among those held.
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