Waldheim hit for trusting Tehran

Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky was quoted Tuesday as saying United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim should not have believed the "crazy mullahs" in Iran regarding the fate of the 50 Americans held hostage in Tehran.

The Vienna daily Die Presse quoted the chancellor as saying that Mr. Waldheim showed "incomprehensible carelessness" in believing that the hostages, in their 116th day of captivity at the US Embassy, would be freed once a UN commission began its inquiry into the rule of the Shah.

Meanwhile, in Tehran, some 200 Iranians stood in line in the snow to testify before the United Nations commission investigating grievances against the deposed Shah. They told of tortures, beatings, and random shootings. One young man told of being arrested and tortured for possessing a photograph of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.