World Notes FRANCE

Ronald Reagan was not the only Western leader facing Iran arms-sales allegations last week. In Paris, the conservative daily Le Figaro published a U.S. Defense Department report alleging that President Francois Mitterrand had been informed of French arms sales to Tehran in 1984 and had done nothing to stop them. The report also claimed that the President's Socialist Party may have received as much as $500,000 in kickbacks on the sales, which allegedly involved 500,000 artillery shells worth $120 million.

Mitterrand acknowledged that he had heard "rumors" of arms shipments to Iran by Luchaire, a French munitions firm. Pointing out that he had banned such sales when he took office in 1981, Mitterrand said he ordered an investigation by intelligence and defense officials. Since he heard nothing further about the problem, he said, he assumed that the sales had ended. As for the charge that the Socialists had benefited from the deal, Mitterrand said he would put his "hand in the fire" to deny it.