Jordan says Ghotbzadeh sought killing of Shah

In an attempt to end the hostage crisis, Hamilton Jordan met secretly with Iranian Foreign Minister Sadeq Ghotbzadeh, who said the 52 Americans would be freed if the CIA would kill the deposed shah, Mr. Jordan says in his just-published memoirs.

Mr. Jordan, who was Jimmy Carter's chief of staff, said in his book he would not reveal the identity of the Iranian representative. But since Ghotbzadeh was executed last week, Mr. Jordan gave Newsweek permission to identify the former foreign minister as his secret negotiating partner. Mr. Jordan said he was shocked by the proposal, but that Ghotbzadeh persisted.