Soviet Meddling

It won Moscow no new friends

Ever since militant Iranians seized the American hostages, the Soviet and Eastern European press have blamed the U.S. for the crisis. When it ended last week, the Communists stepped up the propaganda barrage. Said the Soviet news agency TASS: "The settlement of the crisis in Iran will in no way affect the Pentagon's plans for a further buildup of the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf area." Intoned the Hungarian daily Magyar Hirlap: "The U.S. secured the release of its diplomats by .resorting to economic and financial extortion." Said the Czechoslovak news agency Ceteka: "Washington should learn the lesson that U.S. imaginings about its being the leading power in the world are just that: imaginings."

The point of the propaganda is plainly to extract advantage for the Soviet Union and embarrass the U.S. as much as possible. From the beginning, U.S. protests were to no avail, as Soviet broadcasts into Iran encouraged the captors to keep the Americans prisoner. Pravda said that the U.S. had invited retaliation by restoring the Shah to the throne in 1953 and then, when he was overthrown, refusing to return him to Iran. When the U.S. rescue raid failed last April, the Soviet press burst out in triumphant indignation: "An abortive provocation," "a violation of international law."

As the agreement over the hostages began to take shape last month, the Soviets seemed to be worried about a rapprochement between the U.S. and Iran. Said TASS: "What is in the making is another U.S. holdup of Iran." Two weeks ago, TASS reported that the U.S. was getting ready to invade Iran from bases in Egypt, Pakistan or Oman. The fabricated report was thought to be an attempt to scuttle the negotiations. Secretary of State Edmund Muskie summoned Soviet Ambassador Anatoli Dobrynin and demanded a halt to the "scurrilous propaganda." Dobrynin appeared embarrassed, but TASS responded by warning of a "new anti-Soviet campaign in the U.S."

Yet all the Soviet bluster has probably not improved its position in Iran. Soviet-Iranian relations soured considerably after the invasion of Afghanistan. A Soviet diplomat was expelled from Tehran in June for spying, and a group of Afghan exiles last month stormed the Soviet embassy and smashed some furniture. The Soviets formally complained to Iran about this "criminal violation of the norm in relations between the states" and warned ominously that if Tehran cannot protect the embassy, "the Soviet Union will undertake the task." Last week the Iranian foreign ministry finally agreed to pay for the damage, but it accused Moscow of acting just like Ronald Reagan.

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