Carter’s (then U.S. President) personal message to the Imam concerning his request for release of American hostages was conveyed to the Imam by (then Iranian foreign Minister) Ghotbzadeh which according to Mr. Ghotbzadeh was handed to him on Wednesday by the Charge d’affaires of Switzerland in Tehran. The following day or the same day yet another message was handed over to (then Iranian president) Bani Sadr. However, the message handed over to the Imam did not contain the harsh statements of the message given to Bani Sadr and had a more lenient tone. In line with the Imam’s statement that: “nothing should be hidden from the nation”, we handed the message over to the radio station for broadcasting on the same Saturday.
When the Imam saw the message, he stated: “This ought to be broadcast because we do not hide anything from the people. We must inform the people of whatever is taking place and the people must decide for themselves.” It was for this very reasons that he demanded we broadcast the message immediately.
Name of the narrator: Hujjat al-Islam wal Muslimeen Sayyed Ahmad Khomeini, Jomhouri-e-Eslami (Islamic Republic) daily, dated March 31, 1980
Title of the Book: Impressions and Memoirs about Imam Khomeini's Practical Behaviour, vol. 1, chapter two, pages 126