234. Editorial Note
At 7:20 a.m. on April 1, 1980, President Jimmy Carter addressed reporters in the Oval Office at the White House. He reminded them that his administration has been seeking a positive development in Iran, such as the transfer of the U.S. hostages to the Iranian Government. Carter stated: “If this action had not been taken, or is not taken, we were considering additional sanctions against Iran and had notified the Iranian government of that fact.” (See Document 227.) Carter continued:
“This morning, the President of Iran has announced that the hostages’ control will be transferred to the Government of Iran, which we consider to be a positive step. In light of that action, we do not consider it appropriate now to impose additional sanctions. We will monitor the situation very closely. We would like to see this positive development continue and our foremost consideration and our constant effort will be devoted to the hostages and their return to this country and to freedom.”
After his statement, in response to a reporter’s question on whether the United States had agreed to Iran’s condition of no hostile action, no provocation, and no propaganda (see footnote 3, Document 233), Carter replied that the United States would maintain present trade restrictions and continue to hold Iran’s assets. He repeatedly stressed the fact that the United States would not impose any additional sanctions. (Public Papers: Carter, 1980–81, Book I, pages 576–577)
Later that day, President Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr told reporters that Carter’s statement had failed to meet Iran’s demands and that an official declaration containing U.S. acceptance of all the conditions had to be published. (Reuters wire, attached to a memorandum from Aaron to Carter, April 1; Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Country File, Box 31, Iran 4/1/80–4/18/80)
After this announcement by Bani-Sadr, on the same day, Carter decided to call an NSC meeting “to impose all the sanctions, expel all their diplomats, collect all the claims against Iran, maybe prohibit any more people coming into this country from Iran—and to act without further delay.” Carter recalled that within a few hours, Foreign Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh had said that Iranian demands had been met, implying that the hostages would, in fact, be transferred to government control. Carter then decided to let the situation stew for a few days until clarification was received from Tehran. (Carter, Keeping Faith, pages 503–504) No copy of Ghotbzadeh’s statement has been found.