By ROBERT BARR
Associated Press Writer
LONDON – Margaret Thatcher, for all her reputation as a hard-liner, rebuffed appeals from U.S. President Jimmy Carter for a more demonstrative response to the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979, saying it would do more harm than good, according to papers in her personal files released Saturday.
The files cover the first eight months of Thatcher’s 11 1/2 years as prime minister, giving glimpses of her embarking on an ambitious domestic agenda to revive the economy and curb the unions, and engaging with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4.
They were made public by the Thatcher Foundation under rules that allow for keeping documents secret for 30 years.