Hostage panel agreed to in Iran, but debate fiery

October 1, 1980

Iran parliament has finally agreed to set up a special commission to study the question of the American hostages and produce regular written reports on its inquiries. but parliament members failed to agree on who the commission members would be and said the panel would not have the power to make a final decision on the fate of the 52 Americans held since Nov. 4. The debate ended in an uproar, and deputies almost came to blows in an argument over whether the commission should be allowed to contact US or other foreign officials.