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{
    "localId": "23898406",
    "label": "Iran Update: December 16, 1980",
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{
    "id": "23898406",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/23898406",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Iran Update: December 16, 1980",
    "description": "This document is a December 16, 1980 Department of State Briefing Memorandum providing an update on the Iran hostage crisis.",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/23898406",
    "identifierLocal": "3H",
    "collections": [
        "Records of the Office of the National Security Advisor (Carter Administration)",
        "Zbigniew Brzezinski's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) President's Daily Brief Files"
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 15,
            "logicalDate": "1980-12-15",
            "month": 12,
            "year": 1980
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{
    "seq": 2,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/6/8984/23898406/content/presidential-libraries/carter/gallery/23898406_Page_2.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "SECRET/SENSITIVE\n-2-\npost-hostage period. This is a follow-up to an earlier tele-\ngram from Laingen assessing the current political situation\nin Iran which was circulated as a telegram from Embassy Bern.\n-- Swiss Ambassador Hegner called on me yesterday to\nconvey the concerns and recomnendations of Swiss Ambassador\nLang in Tehran with respect to where the hostages should be\nquartered just before their departure from Iran. He re-\ncalled that the hoped-for release last April was frustrated\nby the fact that the hostages were not really under Govern-\nment control at that time. Lang suggests that we not make\nknown our preferences in this regard to the Iranian,author-\nities until release appeal- imminent because of the \"Tabass\nsyndrome. \" However, when it becomes timely to address the\nproblem, he recommended that we not oppose Evin Prison, if\noffered, and suggested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs\n(which still has the beds which had been located there last\nApril) would also be an acceptable location. I told him\nthat we have no more definite information than Ambassador\nLang with respect to the current status and whereabouts of\nthe hostages, but indicated that when the Iranians give a\ncomprehsnsive reply to our latest clarifications, it might\nthen be appropriate to have the Algerians ask them whether\nthe hostages are indeed under Government control. If they\nare under undisputed Government control, it would then not\nmatter whether they were still in the Embassy compound or\nat some other location prior to their departure for the\nairport.\nAttachment: Telegram from Bruce Laingen\nDrafted: NEA/IWG:RELindstrom/LWSemakis:djm\nSECRET/SENSITIVE"
}