US still investigating Iran president

Yahoo News:

The United States has concluded that Iran's president-elect was a leader of the movement behind the 1979 hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran but is unsure whether he took part, a senior US official said.

"We have looked into the allegations concerning Iranian President (Mahmood) Ahmadinejad's involvement in the 1979 Iran hostage crisis," a spokesman for US President George W. Bush's National Security Council told AFP. READ MORE

"Mr. Ahmadinejad was a leader of the student movement that organized the attack on the embassy and the taking of American hostages," said the spokesman, who requested not to be identified by name.

"However, we are still investigating whether or not he was explicitly one of the hostage-takers," said the spokesman.

On November 4, 1979, following Iran's Islamic revolution, a group of radical student followers of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 of its staff hostage for 444 days.

The White House and the US State Department said almost exactly one month ago that they were looking into allegations from five survivors of the siege that the Ahmadinejad, a religious hardliner, was an active participant.

Iranian veterans of the standoff have flatly denied that Ahmadinejad was involved.
Ahmadinejad trounced moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in the second round run-off of last month's presidential vote to record the greatest upset in Iranian political history.

Washington deemed the elections illegitimate.

The hostage crisis led to the suspension of diplomatic ties between Washington and Tehran, which remain severed to this day. Ahmadinejad has dampened any hopes of a resumption of links, saying Iran "does not need" the United States.

Bush has said that the allegations "raise many questions" that must be answered, while White House spokesman Scott McClellan said "I don't think it should be a surprise to anyone if it turns out to be true."