Hostage in Iran specifies 'spying'

A statement by an American hostage detailing alleged US operations in Iran, India, and Pakistan was broadcast three weeks go on Iranian television; an undubbed tape was made available to Reuters by his captors just this week.

S/Sgt. Joseph Subic Jr., who described himself as a Defense Intelligence Agency assistant in the defense attache's office at the US Embassy, said in the broadcast that a C-12 plane fitted with a concealed camera was kept by the United States at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport until April of last year.

Sergeant Subic said knowledge of the espionage operation was confined to the ambassador, the defense attach's office, and Central Intelligence Agency officials. He also outlined what he claimed were the workings of an intelligence-computer area beneath the US Embassy's supply warehouse.

The sergeant expressed dissatisfaction with the way President Carter had handled the hostage crisis and said he had come to learn about crimes committed by the former Shah. He alleged that the Shah's government had been controlled by the US government.