Ex-air chief to be tried in Iran over 1980 US raid

A former Iranian Air Force commander will stand trial in Tehran on charges he aided US forces in last year's abortive raid to rescue the American hostages, a senior Iranian official announced Monday.

Maj. Gen. Amir Bahman Baqeri, who was Air Force chief during the first five months the hostages were held, is accused of ordering the removal of Iranian antiaircraft guns one day before a US commando force landed in the eastern Iranian desert April 24. He is also suspected of destroying evidence by ordering the blasting of intact US helicopters abandoned in the Iranian desert when the Americans aborted the raid.