US probes Ahmadinejad claims
2005-06-30 16:25
Washington - US authorities are investigating accusations by former US hostages that Iran's president-elect Mahmood Ahmadinejad was one of their captors, White House spokesperson Scott McClellan said Thursday.
The "news report and statements raise many questions about his past".
We're looking into it to learn more about the facts," McClellan told reporters.
Former hostages in the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran have identified Iran's president-elect as a key player in their 444-day ordeal, The Washington Times reported earlier.
Ahmadinejad, 49, trounced moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in the second round run-off of Friday's presidential vote to record the greatest upset in Iranian political history.
Washington deemed the elections illegitimate.
- AFP