SHULTZ PROTESTED IRAN DEAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605100030-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 30
• Publication Date: November 7, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605100030-0
WASHINGTON MUST
ARTICLE APPEARED 7 November 1986
G
ON PA
Shultz
Protested
Iran Deal
U.S. Reassured Iraq
Of Neutrality in
Persian Gulf War
yWalte P cr nini us-,
Washington Post Staff Writer
Secretary of State George P.
Shultz protested to President Rea-
gan that a secret White House plan
to obtain the release of U.S. hos-
tages in Lebanon by permitting
shipments of military equipment to
Iran contradicted U.S. policy
against negotiating with terrorist
states, informed sources said yes-
terday.
Although the clandestine White
House program proceeded anyway,
the sources. added, it was halted
briefly after the release of the Rev.
Benjamin Weir in September 1985.
At that time, the half-dozen or so
senior State Department officials
who knew about it argued that ex-
changing military goods for hos-
tages could lead to more kidnapings
of Americans.
But the White House resumed
the program-with at least some of
the goods apparently traveling cir-
cuitous routes from Israel to Euro-
pean countries and finally to Iran in
an eventually successful effort to
free two more hostages. In recent
months, there was also hope that
the program would promote better
ties with Iranian politicians and mil-
itary leaders jockeying to succeed
the aged Ayatollah Ruhollah Kho-
meini, the sources said.
Simultaneously, the administra-
tion was reassuring Iran's bitter en-
emy, Iraq, of American neutrality in
the 6-year-old Persian Gulf war.
The Iraqis responded, two sources
said yesterday, by promising to re-
strain their support of terrorist
groups and by placing terrorist Mo-
hammed Abu Aooas under house
arrest. In July, Abbas was convicted
in absentia in Italy of involvement in
the hijacking of the Achille Lauro
cruise ship that resulted in the mur-
der of American Leon Klinghoffer.
Abbas, one of his chief lieuten-
ants and the four hijackers were in
Italian. custody briefly in October
1985 ',when U.S. jets intercepted
the plane that was flying them from
Egypt:to Tunisia after the hijacking.
Abbas was released, however, and
some reports have said he was liv-
ing in Baghdad. It is not clear what
the Iraqis plan to do with Abbas.
The secret White House program
was originally directed by then-na-
tional security affairs adviser Rob-
ert C. McFarlane and later by Lt.
Col. Oliver C. North, a deputy di-
rector of the National Security
Council staff, sources said.
The first public word of the pro-
gram came Tuesday when the
speaker of the Iranian parliament,
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said
McFarlane and four others had
gone to Tehran in September
aboard a plane carrying weapons
spare parts. That disclosure was ap-
parently the result of political in-
fighting in Iran that pitted Rafsan-
jani against Muslim fundamental-
ists, who opposed his dealing with
the Americans.
"We were surprised the Iranians
kept the secret this long," said one
source familiar with the program.
The Iranian disclosure, sources
said, may have ended chances for
the quick release of two additional
hostages held by the Islamic Jihad,
which has close ties to Iran. The re-
lease-last Sunday of David P.Jacob-
senes well as the freeing of Weir
last rear and the Rev. Lawrence
Jenco in July-were tied to ship-
ments of military cargo, sources
said.
Yesterday, McFarlane told Unit-
ed Press International after deliv-
ering a lecture in Ohio that he was
in "the awkward position of not be-
ing able to comment on the re-
ports," some of which he described
as. "very fanciful." He added, "I'll
comment on them when the time is
appropriate."
U.S. sources who confirmed that
McFarlane had traveled to Tehran
said he was there to discuss the
hostages, to urge Iran's leaders to
end support of terrorism and to
seek an end to the war with Iraq.
Sources said that there had been
earlier trips to Tehran by North
and others. North, who supervises
the White House counterterrorism
operation, also has played a leading
role"%h U.S. aid to the rebel, or
contta, forces fighting the govern-
ment'of Nicaragua.
Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr, president
of Iran from 1979 until 1981, when
he was forced to flee the country,
said on the ABC News "Nightline"
program Wednesday that he was
aware of American and Israeli arms
shipments reaching Iran as recently
as August and September.
He also said that in return for the
arms shipments, the Khomeini gov-
ernment was beginning to exercise
control "over Islamic Jihad and all
the organizations that are operating
inthe world on that side."
Jn the same program, former
secretary of state Alexander M.
Haig Jr. said that delivery of mili-
tary supplies to Iran "to work with
more moderate elements in the
Iranian government . is a stra-
tegic objective that is not exactly
foolish."
Sources said the covert White
House program began in early 1985
after it became apparent that U.S.
hostages held by the pro-Iranian Is-
lamic Jihad would not respond to
pressure for their release unless it
came from Tehran.
At that point, sources said, Israeli
officials who had kept contacts in
Iran proposed opening up a channel
of: communications for the Amer-
icans. As discussion progressed, the
Iranian officials made it clear they
wanted military spare parts and
equipment if anything was to be
done on the hostage issue, sources
said.
Subsequent shipments were car-
ried out with Israeli and other third-
country personnel purchasing the
arms, which were paid for by the
Iranians as the United States prom-
ised not to interfere, sources said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605100030-0
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605100030-0
,At the same time, however, )us-
tiZe Department officials were pros-
ecuting individuals for attempting
to covertly sell U.S. arms to Iran. In
the most publicized case, a retired
Israeli general and more than a doz-
en others face trial in New York
ni't_ . February for allegedly at-
tempting to sell Iran $2 billion in
American weapons.
The administration also has re-
peatedly warned other nations not
to peddle weapons to Tehran. Yes-
terday at the White House, spokes-
man Peter Roussel said, "The Unit-
ed Srates. has systematically urged
third countries not to sell arms to
Iran as the only effective way to
bring Iran quickly to accept medi-
ation and negotiation [in the Iran-
Iraq war]."
The precise contents of the mil-
itary shipments to Iran remain un-
clear and were the most "tightly
held" secret in the operation, one
source said yesterday. "It was sub-
stantial and some of it was sophis-
ticated," the source added.
The Los Angeles Times reported
yesterday that the cargo included
ground-to-ground missiles, spare
parts for F4 Phantom jets, Amer-
ican-made radar systems, C130
transport planes and other war ma-
teriel.
In Denmark, a spokesman for the
Danish Sailors Union said Danish
ships had been used to carry Amer-
ican-made arms from Israel to Iran.
The union said that at least 3,600
tons of U.S.-made arms were car-
ried to Iran recently.
Yesterday, State Department of-
ficials attempted to reassure Iraqi
and other Arab diplomats that the
United States had not abandoned its
previous policy of being even-hand-
ed in the Gulf war. The Iraqi am-
bassador met yesterday morning
with Assistant Secretary of State
Richard W. Murphy, while Saudi
Arabia's ambassador met yesterday
afternoon with John M. Poindexter,
the. president's national security af-
fairs adviser.
At a bill-signing ceremony yes-
terday morning, President Reagan
refused comment but said, "I sug-
gest and appeal to all of you with re-
gard to this, that the speculation,
the commenting and all ... to us
has no foundation, that all of that is
making it more difficult for us in our
effort to get the other hostages
free."
Later, White House spokesman
Albert R. Brashear declined to iden-
tify which articles or newscasts
Reagan had in mind.
Secretary of Defense Caspar W.
Weinberger also declined comment
in a meeting with reporters, except
to say, "I warn you to check with
sources on some of this stuff."
Staff writers John M. Goshko and
Molly Moore contributed to this
report
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605100030-0