U.S. Says Iran Envoy Had Role in Tehran Siege

The U.S. Embassy in Switzerland has complained about the appointment as Iranian ambassador of a man it says played an active role in the siege of the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979, a U.S. official said today.

The official said Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Malaek, Iran’s envoy to Switzerland since March, had been identified by some of the 52 Americans held hostage from November, 1979, to January, 1981.

But the Swiss Foreign Ministry in Bern said inquiries about the new Iranian ambassador had revealed nothing negative that would affect the acceptance of his appointment.

U.S. Ambassador Faith Ryan Whittlesey was being invited to the Foreign Ministry for talks on the matter, informed sources said.

Was Charge d’Affaires

The Iranian ambassador presented his credentials in Bern on March 22, after serving for a year as charge d’affaires.

Neutral Switzerland has represented U.S. interests in Iran since April, 1980, when Washington broke off diplomatic relations.

The U.S. official attached to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva said Malaek had been identified by senior diplomats as one of the leaders of those involved in the siege of the Tehran embassy.

He said the Iranian was rejected as a diplomat by four Western European countries, including Britain, before Switzerland accepted his credentials.

Demonstration in Tehran

In Tehran, meanwhile, hundreds of Iranian mourners shouted “Revenge! Revenge!” as they buried 44 sailors killed in the battles with the U.S. Navy this week in the Persian Gulf.

Young men were shown on Iranian television Thursday waving banners reading, “The Persian Gulf will be Reagan’s graveyard,” and shouting, “Death to America! Death to Reagan and Saddam!”--a reference to Iraq’s president, Saddam Hussein.

In Washington, Pentagon officials said today that U.S. mine-sweeping ships in the gulf had located and destroyed five underwater mines about 35 miles southeast of the area where the frigate Samuel B. Roberts struck a mine last week.