Telegram From German Embassy, Tehran

DECLASSIFIED LS No. 100614 - A Per; Rac Project BL HE ESDN; NLC-2-33-5-125 German BY: AGP NARA,DATE 7/14/2015 TELEGRAM FROM GERMANS 12/16/80 From Teheran - No. 1394 of December 16, 1980, 1:25 p.m. local time Subject: Hostage Problem Ref. : db No. 1369 of December 9, 1980 Although local government spokesmen have denied all reports that the hostages are to be released before Christ- mas, they do not comment negatively on the continuation of the indirect negotiations. The most recent comment by the Prime Minister's office was that the American reaction to the Iranian demands is "basically positive", but that further negotiations concerning the details will be required. Nabavi has promised the draft for the Iranian answer for the next two days, but before it is presented to the Algerians, it will have to be submitted to Khomeini for approval Local observers, including the Algerians, consider the fact that the government is including Khomeini in the hostage negotiations before the time for the final decision has come as a sign of increasing difficulties which the government and leading political clerics like Beheshti and Rafsanjani are encountering from radical forces in their own party. While the former would probably actually like to conclude the hos- tage exchange out of rational considerations of the increasingly acute shortages of spare parts and foreign currency, the doubts about a release of the hostages are increasing in the IRP and among the clergy, fed by Islamic extremists and leftists, since in those circles, the continuing violent domestic dis-