REAGAN CONFIRMS IRAN GOT ARMS AID; CALLS DEALS VITAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560047-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 47
• Publication Date: November 13, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

U
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560047-5
ARTICLE APP ED NW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE 13 November 1986
REAGAN CONFIRMS
IRAN GOTARMSAIR"
CALLS DEALS VITAL
By BERNARD WEINRAUI
speew to The New Yak new
WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 - In a meet-
ing with Congressional leaders today,
President Reagan for the tlr&t time
personally acknowledged sending mill-
tary supplies to Iran, and he defended
his action as necessary for establishing
ties to moderate elements there, ac-
cording to Administratuarotflcials,
The officials said the meeting oc-
curred after Mr. Reagan unexpectedly
summoned key Congressional leaders
to the White House to respond to in-
creasing demands by legislators for an
explanation of the Administration's re-
versal of its policy ruling out any deals
for the release of American hostages.
The officials said Mr. Reagan told
the group of four senators and House
members that he saw some hope that
the. current secret negotiations with
Iran would lead to the release of two
more hostages.
'Interest In U.S. Ties'
,,we would be at fault If Khomeini Attending the briefing were Senator
died and we had not made any pt'eparar Bob Dole, Republican of Kansas, the
bona for contacts wim a future re? majority leader, Senator Robert C.
Byrd, me, said one Administration offl- minority ty leader, of Representative reVirginia, the
gi~~ minority Jim
cial, paraphrasing what Mr. Reagan Wright, Democrat of of Texas, the
said at the meetinng,. "The arms were House majority leader and Represent-
necessary for that." He was referring alive Dick Cheney, Republican of Wyo-
to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the ming, the assistant minority leader.
paramount Iranian leader, who is Senator Byrd said through a spokes-,
strongly anti-American. man that the briefing had not altered
his criticism of the secret dealings with
The official added that the arms sup. Iran. "My mind was not changed,"he
plies for Iran did not constitute "ran- said. "The answers I got did not change
som" for American hostages- held in my thinking or the impressions I had
Lebanon by a pro-Iranian group, from what I had seen or read in the
Mr. Reagan, the official said, told the mom" i
legislators that he was optimistic about Representative Jim W
the release of two hostages held in who expected to be the Wright of Lebanon by a pro-Iranian group. "Our the House next year, would not com
hopes have been up on these hostages ment on details of the briefing.
for the last 48 hours," the official said. In a ' statement, be said, "For ap-,
There are two categories of Amer- proximately two hours we discussed,
ican hostages in Beirut, according to the entire situation involving Iran, the
Administration officials. One includes American hostages and the matter of.
Thomas M. Sutherland and Terry A. arms shipments. The discussions were
Anderson, who have been detained by frank and candid but at no time vitu-
the same group that held the three hos- perative.
tages who were released over the last "Along with other members of Cor-
d
u
I
d
In acknowledging the Administra-
tion's involvement in supplying arms
to Iran, Mr. Reagan argued that the 18 months. The other three Americans,
United States had undertaken clandee- ,who months, have are been believed to be kidnapped in held recent
by dif-
tine contacts with the Teheran Govern- ferent groups.
ment because some factions in Iraq
were viewed, in the words of one par-
ticipant at the meeting as "traditional-
ists or nonradicals who have a greater
interest in U.S. ties."
As Mr. Reagan addressed the legisla-
tors, the highest ranking- Iranian otfi-
cial in the United States strongly
denied that his Government was in-
volved in trading American hostages
for military equipment. But the offs-
cial, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, Iran's
chief delegate to the United Nations,
made it clear that Iran would welcome
better relations with the United States.
'We Would Be at Fault'
Under sharp questioning from $a
legislators about Washington's involve.
ment in arms shipments to Iran, Mr.
Reagan said, in essence, that these
were necessary to establish closer ties
and to improve prospects for the re-
lease of some of the American hostages
held in Lebanon, an Administration of-
ficial said.
The Administration has not sought to
differentiate in its efforts to free them
all, but says that it is more realistic to
expect that Mr. Sutherland and Mr. An-
derson would be released first, since
they are in the group whose freedom
has been sought in the contacts with
Iran.
Larry Speakes, the White House
spokesman, declined to give details of
the two-hour meeting in the White
House Situation Room, which was
called in response to a growing Con-
gressional uproar about the Adminis-
tration's clandestine ties to Iran. There
was no prior announcement of the
meeting, which was attended by many
of the highest-ranking officials of the
Reagan Administration.
A brief statement by Mr. S
said: "The President met today ~Z
P.M. to 4 P.M. with the bipartiial d-
ership of the House of Representatives
and the Senate to brief them on recent
developments on U.S.-Iran relations
and other matters."
t atten once,
expresse
cer-
g, cam
tain convictions regarding the direc-
tion of our foreign affairs and how to
improve future relations between the
executive and legislative branches.
"In pursuit of this goal and because
of the confidential nature of some of
the material disclosed, I would like to
withhold further comment at this
time."
Donald T. Regan, the White House
chief of staff, was instrumental in set-
ting up today's meeting, overcoming
the objections of National Security
Council officials, White House aides
said. Earlier in the day, Mr. Regan met
privately with several White House of-
ficials and was told that the Adminis-
tration faced "a serious perceptual
problem" because of revelations about
United States dealings with Iran.
"Regan said they were worried
about the other hostages - that's why
we couldn't say anything. It would en-
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House officialli"He'was f ustrated"e
Officials said that the on pri-
vab contacts between United States
&" y positive siigmissaries, n in the effmort by the
Administration to gain the release of
some of the American hostages held by
a group believed to have ties with Iran.
"Let me just leave it we remain
hopeful," Larry Speaker, the White
House spokesman, told reporters this
morning. He said that Administration
moves to secure the release of the hos-
tages had been "wise and appropriate"
as well as legal.
. "We're not at liberty to explain some
of the actions that we've taken, and
until we are, and until all the facts
come out, I would caution the press, the
Congress and others not to jump to con-
clusions and not make judgments on
the basis of what they may have heard
or read," Mr. Speakes said.
Reported In Lebanese Magazine
Following the release in Lebanon on
Nov. 2 of David P. Jacobsen, a 55-year-
old hospital administrator, after more
than 17 months in captivity, White
House officials were hopeful that Mr.
Anderson and Mr. Sutherland would be
released by their captors, believed to
be the same pro-Iranian group. The dis-
closure of the secret United States
dealings with, Iran, first made in a
Lebanese magazine, seemed, for the
momem to have dashed hopes for their
release.
But Mr. Reagan, in his meeting with
the legislators today, made it clear that
the United States had received Indica-
tions that there was a possibility that
one or two of the hostages would be re-
leased soon.
ft meetirut with Mr. Reagan we
Vice President Bush, retary o
State George P. Shultz, Secretary of
Defense Caspar W. Weinberger, Attor-
ney General Edwin L. Meese 3d, WJL-
Iiam J. Case the rec
vice ACIM. J0 11n Poin-
dexter, the President's natiopal se-
curity adviser, and Mr. Regan,
One official who attended the White
House meeting said that Mr. Reagan
defended the arms dealings with Iran
as necessary in the effort to shape rela-
tions with the Teheran Government
An internal struggle is reported to be
underway in Iran in anticipation of the
death of Ayatollah Khomeini. The offi-
cial conceded that the supply of arms
was "intertwined" with the release of
the hostages, and that Mr. Reagan ex-
pressed "measured optimism" about
the possibility that the Americans
would be freed.
The White House meeting called to-
day was an apparently an attempt to
respond to bipartisan criticism in Con-
gress of the dealings with Iran, which
were carried out by the National Se-
curity Council.
Move for Confirmation
Sena or Patrick T i e by a Vermont
nmnerat and vice chairmann of the In-`
tg nce Committee. said today tit
s v
o el! Mr of this episode w1 1)robsb
be a move in COnQress to reauire Sen-
confirma ion of the nationse-
curity adviser.
Mr_ I .Pally said that he would ooooea
this. because President should be able
to have an adviser of his ong.
"But with that comes the understand.
inthat the advisor has to act within
the constraints of being an adviser. not
a mini-C.I.A."
The Cenatnr si id Congress has to
find out if the mission was assigned to
the N S C staff to avoid the ongres-
sional oversight that would have auto.
maticall come into a i the State or
Defense artments or the ntral
Into i ence A enc were involved
"Were State and ense kept out of
the loop, or did they ask quietly to step
out of the loop in order to preserve
deniability?"
STAT
STAT
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