Bush reacts to claims Iranian leader was hostage-taker

US PRESIDENT George W Bush said yesterday that "many questions" have been raised by allegations of some former American hostages that Iran's president-elect was one of their captors in the late 1970s.

"I have no information," Bush said in an interview with foreign reporters ahead of a trip to Scotland next week. "But obviously his involvement raises many questions." Afterward, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said that Bush was referring to reports suggesting Iranian president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's involvement in the 1979 hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran.

Former hostages Chuck Scott, David Roeder, William J Daugherty and Don A. Sharer told The Associated Press that after seeing Ahmadinejad on television, they have no doubt he was one of the hostage-takers. A fifth ex-hostage, Kevin Hermening, said he reached the same conclusion after looking at photos. A close aide to Ahmadinejad denied the president- elect took part in the seizure of the embassy or in holding Americans hostage.