Memorandum of Conversation
This document is a December 28, 1979 Department of State memorandum of conversation from a meeting with clergymen who visited the hostages in Iran.
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OCR Page 1 of 5DEPARTMENT OF STATE
17
Washington, D.C. 20520
December 28, 1979
SECRET/SENSITIVE
MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION
PARTICIPANTS: Rev. William Sloane Coffin
Rev. Howard
Bishop Gumbleton
-
Under Secretary Newsom
Assistant Secretary Saunders
Deputy Assistant Secretary Constable
Henry Precht
DATE: December 28, 1979
TIME: 1:30 p.m.
SUBJECT: Meeting with Clergymen Who Visited the Hostages.
The clergy briefed the Secretary for an hour on their
Christmas visit to the hostages in the compound. They
found the hostages physically well although some were under
obvious stress. The students holding the compound were
rigid, obsessed with the crimes of the Shah, and unyielding
on all points, both procedural and substantive. In their
other contacts with Foreign Minister Ghotbzadeh and some
religious leaders, the clergy found an almost universal
insistence on the return of the Shah and deep emotion over
the injustices suffered during the Shah's regime. Ghotbzadeh
and other Western-trained Iranian officials were more
flexible but experiencing obvious difficulties in finding
a solution acceptable to Khomeini and the students. Reverend
Coffin was critical of American policy and urged statements
which would "transcend" the present stalemate and respond to
the Iranian need for understanding of their grievances.
Reverend Howard did not believe that any dramatic proposals
by the U.S. would yield results. All three agreed that
additional U.S. pressures through sanctions would only harden
the Iranian position.
DECLASSIFIED
SBCRDT/SENSITIVE
Per; Rac Project
ESDN; ICC-6-32-5-24-8
IN
B
NARA. DATE 5/18/2015