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Iran-Contra Affair

"In God we trust.
All others we monitor."

• A “considerable illicit traffic” in US arms sales to the Islamic fundamentalist regime in Iran has developed by this time to assist Iran in the war with Iraq.
• South Korean and Israeli companies are used as intermediaries.
• According Alan A. Block, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, many of these sales are known of and approved by the CIA and the Reagan administration.
• Block points out that these arms sales precede the hostage incidents which, it is later claimed, are the motivation for the arms sales to Iran.

• The US launches Operation Staunch, advising other countries not to sell weapons to Iran to force a negotiated settlement to the Iran-Iraq war.

CIA Issues a Burn Notice on Ghorbanifar

President Ronald Reagan

• US President Ronald Reagan publicly claims to end aid to the contras in accordance with a congressional ban.
• However his administration continues the support, leading to the Iran-Contra scandal.

CIA Station Chief William F. Buckley

• William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, is kidnapped by militants who claim to be part of a mysterious organization they call Islamic Jihad.

CIA Officer Duane Clarridge

• Duane Clarridge, a CIA officer who has cultivated contacts with Nicaraguan rebels, introduces National Security Council staffer Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North to the leaders of the Nicaraguan “Contras,” currently operating out of Honduras.
• The Contras are dedicated to the overthrow of the Socialist, democratically elected Sandinista government.

• Because the US government views the Sandinistas as aligned with the Communist government of Cuba, it too opposes the Sandinistas, and views the Contras as a band of “freedom fighters” worthy of support.
• Clarridge tells the Contra leaders that if Congress cuts off aid to the Contras in light of recent revelations that the CIA mined Nicaraguan harbors, North will continue working with them on a covert basis.

Pastor Benjamin Weir

• The Reverend Benjamin Weir, a US citizen, is kidnapped by Hezbollah in Beirut.

• President Reagan tells the nation in a televised address that the US must help the Nicaraguan Contras. “The Sandinista rule is a Communist reign of terror,” Reagan says. “Many of those who fought alongside the Sandinistas saw their revolution betrayed. They were denied power in the new government. Some were imprisoned, others exiled. Thousands who fought with the Sandinistas have taken up arms against them and are now called the Contras. They are freedom fighters.”

US Congressman Edward Boland wrote the bill
outlawing support of the Contras

• Congress passes the second Boland Amendment, which outlaws the use of “third-party nations” to support the Contras. The bill also bars the use of funds by the CIA, the Defense Department, or any intelligence agency for “supporting, directly or indirectly, military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua by any nation, group, organization or individual.”

Peter Kilburn

Terry Anderson

Michael Ledeen

• Michael Ledeen, a neoconservative author who consults for the National Security Council, meets informally with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.
• Ledeen tells Peres that the Reagan administration will quietly support Israeli arms shipments to Iran.

David Jaconsen

• David Jacobsen, a US citizen and an administrator of Beirut’s American University Hospital, is kidnapped by Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Defense Chief Weinberger Opposed Weapons Sales to Iran

• Tensions between the pro-Iran and pro-Iraq factions in the White House come to a head after Robert McFarlane’s National Security Council staff drafts a presidential directive advocating that the US help Iran obtain weapons.
• The opposing faction, led by Secretary of State George Shultz and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, protest angrily, with Weinberger calling the proposal “almost too absurd to comment on….”
• But the arms-for-hostage deal will go forward over Shultz’s and Weinberger’s objections.

• After Hezbollah takes two more Americans hostage in Lebanon, Ronald Reagan angrily charges that Iran (the sponsor of Hezbollah) is a member of what he calls a “confederation of terrorist states… a new, international version of Murder Incorporated.”
• He asserts, “America will never make concessions to terrorists.”
• But unbeknownst to the public, a group of senior White House officials are working to begin providing military aid to Iran.

• Congress modifies the Boland Amendment (see October 10, 1984) by authorizing a one-time appropriation of $27 million for humanitarian aid for the Nicaraguan Contras.
• On August 29, 1985, President Reagan creates the Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office (NHAO) in the State Department for the purpose of administering the $27 million.

• Now Iran frees the Reverend Benjamin Weir, an American kidnapped over a year before in Lebanon.
• White House officials hope for further hostage releases, but none are forthcoming.

Shimon Peres

• Ronald Reagan will telephone Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres to thank him for Israel’s help in securing Weir’s freedom.

• The TOW missiles will be delivered to Iran on September 20, in the cargo hold of a DC-8 transport plane once owned by a Miami-based air transport company; the aircraft took off from Tabriz, Iran, disappeared from radar screens over Turkey, made what was supposed to be a “forced landing” in Israel and later returned to Iran by a circuitous route.

Nicaraguan Contras

• Some of the $27 million is never used for humanitarian purposes, but instead used to buy weapons, both for the Contras and for the mujaheddin in Afghanistan.

• The US ships another 500 TOW anti-tank missiles to Iran via Israel.

US Hawk anti-aircraft missiles

• Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, a mid-level National Security Council staff member, is put in charge of the upcoming shipment of US Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.

Retired Air Force Major General Richard Secord

• Retired Air Force Major General Richard Secord becomes deeply involved in organizing a covert supply operation for Nicaragua’s Contras under the name “Airlift Project.”
• Secord later testifies to the Congressional Iran-Contra Committee that the project’s money comes from private donations and friendly foreign governments.

CIA Shipped Missiles to Iran

• The CIA arranges for the shipment of 18 Hawk anti-aircraft missiles from Israel to Iran, ferried aboard a CIA front company transport plane.
• Within days, the Iranians reject the missiles because they do not meet their requirements.
• Some of the US officials involved in the missile transfer later claim they believe the CIA plane carried oil-drilling parts, and not weapons.
• After the transfer, John McMahon, the deputy director of the CIA, says that the agency can no longer provide covert assistance to Iran without explicit authorization from President Reagan.
• Reagan will authorize the sale of the missiles a month later

Asst Secretary of
State Elliott Abrams

• Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams joins the National Security Council (NSC)‘s Oliver North and the CIA’s Central American Task Force chief Alan Fiers as the principal members of a Restricted Interagency Group (RIG) which works on Central American affairs for the Reagan administration.
• Abrams, a staunch supporter of Nicaragua’s Contras, becomes aware of North’s machinations to divert US funds to the Contras in spite of Congress’s prohibition on such funding.
• Abrams will also become directly involved in secret, illegal efforts to secure funding for the Contras from other nations.

• Robert McFarlane resigns as national security adviser. His deputy, Admiral John Poindexter, is appointed to the position. McFarlane will continue working for the administration on an informal basis.

• President Reagan issues a secret presidential finding that retroactively authorizes the sale of Hawk missiles to Iran, a sale that took place a month before.
• When Attorney General Edwin Meese conducts his November 1986 investigation of the Iran arms sales, the documentation of that finding will be destroyed.
• Congress will not be told of the Hawk sales, as mandated by law.

• Oliver North, the National Security Council staffer who handles the Iran-Contra dealings, tells Israeli Defense Ministry officials that he plans to use profits from future arms sales to Iran to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
• North will not inform his supervisor, National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, for five more months.

• Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who has opposed the arms-for-hostage deal with Iran from the outset, warns President Reagan that the arms transfers are patently illegal under the Arms Export Control Act.
• Weinberger later says, “There was no way in which this kind of transfer could be made if that particular act governed.”
• According to Secretary of State George Shultz, who is also present, Reagan answers, “Well, the American people would never forgive me if I failed to get these hostages out over this legal question.”

White House

• President Reagan, Secretary of State George Shultz, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, outgoing National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, and McFarlane’s replacement, John Poindexter, all meet at the White House to discuss the government’s arms sales to Iran.
• Later statements by the participants conflict on key details.
• Some will say that a consensus is reached to end arms sales to Iran, but Deputy CIA Director John McMahon will recall that no such consensus is reached.

• Outgoing National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane and National Security Council staffer Oliver North fly to London to meet with Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian arms merchant.
• Also present at the meeting are David Kimche, of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, and Israeli arms dealer Yaacov Nimrodi.
• McFarlane tells Ghorbanifar that the US wants to end arms sales to Iran, though the US wants to continue pursuing diplomatic relations.
• The US will in actuality continue selling arms to Iran

Wreckage from Arrow Flight 1285

• On December 12, 1985, shortly after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland, Arrow Air Flight 1285 stalls and crashes about half a mile from the runway.
• All 256 passengers and crew on board are killed, including 248 US soldiers.
• The plane was coming from Egypt and refueling in Newfoundland before continuing on to the US.
• At the time, the crash is widely reported to be an accident, caused by icing on the airplane wings.
• Official US and Canadian investigations will also support that conclusion. However, information will later come out suggesting the crash was not an accident.

Time Magazine Called BCCI "World's Sleaziest Bank"

• Months before the National Security Council (NSC)‘s Oliver North sets up his network to illegally divert funds from Iranian arms sales to the Nicaraguan Contras, the NSC uses the Bank of Credit and Commerce International  to channel money to the Contras.
• This money is sent from White House-controlled funds to Saudi Arabia to “launder” its origins, then deposited into a BCCI bank account controlled by Contra leader Adolfo Calero.

Reagan's Attorney General Edwin Meese

• Attorney General Edwin Meese becomes directly involved in the Reagan administration’s secret plan to sell arms to Iran, when he is asked to render a legal opinion supporting the plan.
• Months later, Meese will conduct an “investigation” of the Iran-Contra affair, a possible conflict of interest in light of his legal opinion to justify the arms sales.

John Poindexter

• In a meeting between President Ronald Reagan, Vice President George Bush, Secretary of State George Shultz, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, CIA Director William Casey, and new National Security Adviser John Poindexter, the participants discuss whether to sell 4,000 Israeli-owned, US-made antitank missiles to Iran as another arms-for-hostages deal.
• Shultz and Weinberger, as they have before, oppose any dealings with Iran.
• Bush, according to records of the meeting, fails to express any views at all, but Shultz will recall Bush supporting the deal.
• In 1988, Bush will tell a reporter that he doesn’t remember any such conflict over the arms sales, saying, “I never really heard them that clearly. And the reason is that the machinery broke down—it never worked as it should. The key players with the experience weren’t ever called together… to review the decisions that were made at a lower level.”
• In 1987, Bush will tell the Tower Commission investigating the deal that he didn’t know enough about the arms-for-hostages deals to be able to express an informed opinion about the decision to make the deals, and doesn’t remember the meeting as a “showdown session,” testimony contradicted by both Weinberger and Shultz in their own statements to the commission.

Michael Ledeen suspected of spying for Israel

• National Security Council official Oliver North tells National Security Adviser John Poindexter that his consultant, neoconservative Michael Ledeen, is no longer trustworthy. Ledeen has long been suspected of operating as a spy for Israel.
• North tells Poindexter that “for [the] security of the Iran initiative,” Ledeen should be asked to take periodic polygraph examinations.

Iranian-Born Arms Dealer Albert Hakim

• During a morning intelligence briefing, President Ronald Reagan signs the authorization for the US to allow Israel to sell Iran 4,000 US-made antitank missiles.
• As they have consistently done before, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and Secretary of State George Shultz register their opposition to the arms deals with Iran.
• National Security Adviser John Poindexter notes in a February 1986 e-mail that Vice President George Bush supports the arms-for-hostages deals with Iran, writing that the “President and VP are solid in taking the position that we have to try.”

• The reasons the various administration officials have for agreeing to sell arms to Iran are complex. Reagan is motivated by his belief that supporting Iran thwarts Soviet plans for Middle East domination, and by his own personal sorrow over the plight of the hostages. Others have more overtly political motives primarily fueled by the upcoming midterm elections. If, as in 1980, the American hostages currently held by Islamist radicals can be freed before the elections, the Republicans would likely reap the political benefits.
• Iranian-born arms merchant Albert Hakim, who is involved in the arms deals, will later tell Congress’s Iran-Contra committee, “We had to meet a deadline in releasing hostages, because the elections were coming up.”
• National Security Council aide Oliver North, one of the chief facilitators of the deals with Iran, will admit to the committee, “There are political concerns.”
• The US insists that before it deliver any of the antitank missiles, all of the hostages must be released. Iran refuses, and a deadlock ensues that will last for months.

Michael Ledeen Accused of Profitting from Arms Sales

• National Security Council official Oliver North writes to National Security Adviser John Poindexter that his aide, consultant Michael Ledeen, may be illegally profiting from the sale of arms to Iran through Israel.

TOW Anti-Tank Missiles

• The US sends between 500 and 1,000 TOW anti-tank missiles to Israel, from US stockpiles, to be delivered to Iran.

Iran-Iraq War

• The US sends another shipment of 500 TOW anti-tank missiles to Israel for transfer to Iran.

Congress withdrew financial support for Contras

• Congress narrowly defeats a measure pushed by, among others, Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, for $100 million in military and other aid for the Nicaraguan Contras.
• Abrams, National Security Council officer Oliver North, and senior CIA official Alan Fiers quickly fly to Central America to reassure Contra officials that they will continue to receive funding from the Reagan administration.

John Poindexter: "Reagan Never Saw Memo"

• Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, the National Security Council staffer who facilitates the secret Iran arms deals, helps divert $12 million in money from those arms sales to the Nicaraguan Contras.
• The deal is documented in a memorandum located in North’s desk by investigators for Attorney General Edwin Meese.
• Meese will inform President Reagan and top White House officials of the memo, but many of the cabinet members and top officials he will inform already know of the transaction.
• National Security Adviser John Poindexter, the recipient of the memo, will later testify that President Reagan never saw the memo.
• Reagan will deny knowing anything about the diversion of arms profits to the Contras until November 1986.

Reagan Meets with Contra Leaders

• Senior White House officials attend a National Security Planning Group (NSPG) meeting on the subject of Central America.
• Attending the meeting are President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Secretary of State George Shultz, Treasury Secretary James Baker, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, CIA Director William Casey, and White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan.
• The interests of the Nicaraguan Contras are represented by Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, NSC officer Oliver North, and senior CIA official Alan Fiers.
• According to minutes of the meeting, North reminds the group that under the 1986 Intelligence Authorization Bill, the State Department can legally approach other countries for non-military funding for the Contras.

• During the ensuing discussion, Reagan asks, according to the minutes: “What about the private groups who pay for ads for the contras? Have they been contacted? Can they do more than ads?”
• This indicates that Reagan is well aware of the private, illegal funding being channeled to the Contras.
• Fiers will later give a somewhat different version of events in his testimony to the Iran-Contra grand jury, recalling Reagan asking about “Ollie’s people” working with the Contras and asking if they could help with funding.
• Fiers will recall the question causing tension among the group, and then someone quickly responding, “that’s being worked on.”
• After the meeting, North becomes more outspoken in his descriptions of his illegal funding of the Contras.

Sultan of Brunei Bolkiah

• After a National Security Planning Group (NSPG) meeting that covered the need for further monetary assistance to the Nicaraguan Contras, Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, in a discussion with his boss, Secretary of State George Shultz, broaches the idea of soliciting donations from other nations.
• Shultz is receptive, but warns Abrams that he does not want donations from a country that receives large amounts of US aid, as such solicitations might appear to be kickbacks from such aid.
• And Shultz does not want a right-wing dictatorship such as Taiwan or South Korea to contribute because it would create a potentially embarrassing link between those countries and the Contras.
• Abrams suggests asking the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, for funds.

• Brunei is a tremendously rich Muslim oil state in Southeast Asia.
• Shultz is planning on visiting Brunei in late June anyway, and Abrams says the visit is a perfect opportunity for Shultz to ask for donations. Shultz agrees, but will not ultimately ask the Sultan for money during the visit.
• After the discussion, Abrams meets with National Security Council officer Oliver North, and asks where the money should be sent should the Sultan agree to provide funds.
• North tells Abrams to wait until he can clear the solitication with his boss, NSC chief John Poindexter.
• North tells Poindexter that he has “the accounts and the means by which this thing [transfer of solicited funds] needs to be accomplished.”
• Poindexter will approve the solicitation.

• Five hundred and eight TOW anti-tank missiles, and 240 spare parts for Hawk anti-aircraft missiles, are shipped to Israel for transfer to Iran.

• A delegation secretly sent to Iran by the White House to break the arms-for-hostages deadlock returns to Iran.
• The two countries have been at an impasse since January, when President Reagan authorized the sale of 4,000 antitank missiles to Iran but US officials insisted that all of the American hostages held by Hezbollah be freed before the missiles would be delivered, a condition the Iranians have refused.
• The US delegation—actually the third such delegation to secretly visit Tehran—includes former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane; McFarlane’s longtime supporter and current National Security Council member Oliver North; CIA expert George Cave; and North’s NSC colleague, Howard Teicher. Israel, which will facilitate the arms transfer, sends Amiram Nir, a counterterrorism adviser to Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

• McFarlane and North bring with them more spare parts for Iran’s Hawk anti-aircraft missiles.
• They attempt, and fail, to persuade the Iranians to facilitate the release of all American hostages.
• The delegation’s mission has borne no fruit, as the Iranians insisted on “sequencing,” or releasing the hostages two at a time as arms shipments were delivered.
• Part of the problem surrounds the Iranians’ belief that they are being charged outrageous prices for the missiles, a perception given credence by the fact that profits from the weapons sales are being used to fund Nicaragua’s Contra rebel movement.

• Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, the NSC staffer running the Iran-Contra arms deals, informs National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane that money from the sales of arms to Iran is being diverted to the Nicaraguan Contras.
• North informed Israeli officials of the diversion five months before

• Former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane briefs President Reagan and Vice President Bush on the recent trip to Iran to trade arms for hostages.
• According to National Security Council member Howard Teicher, who was part of the delegation to Iran, McFarlane “explicitly described the differences they had with the Iranian officials, explaining that it was an arms-for-hostages deal.
• He said that the Iranians were jerking us around and would continue to.
• Bush didn’t say anything, but, after McFarlane said the initiative should temporarily be shut down, Reagan agreed not to proceed any longer.”
• For the moment, the arms-for-hostages deal is stalled.

Sultan of Brunei

• National Security Adviser John Poindexter advises the National Security Council’s Oliver North that the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, will donate an unspecified sum of money to the Contras.
• Poindexter says the deal was brokered by Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams; Poindexter has discussed the deal over lunch with Abrams.

Alan Fiers told to lie to Congress

• Alan Fiers, the head of the CIA’s Central America task force, learns of the Reagan administration’s illegal diversion of funds from the sale of weapons to Iran to the Nicaraguan Contras.
• Fiers informs his superior, Deputy Director of Operations Clair George.
• Instead of acting on the knowledge, George orders Fiers to conceal his knowledge of the diversions.
• George will order Fiers to lie to Congress about it in November 1986.
• Fiers will later plead guilty to lying to Congress.

Hezbollah released Father Lawrence Jenco

• The affair emerged when a Lebanese newspaper reported that the U.S. sold arms to Iran through Israel in exchange for the release of hostages by Hezbollah.
• After a leak by Iranian radical Mehdi Hashemi, the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa exposed the arrangement on November 3, 1986.
• This was the first public reporting of the weapons-for-hostages deal.
• The operation was discovered only after an airlift of guns was downed over Nicaragua.

Oliver North shredded critical National Security documents

Tower Commission Report in Book Format

• "The Tower Report on the Iran-Contra scandal was a widely praised and comprehensive investigation that swiftly halted the political damage and enabled the Reagan Administration to recover balance. It also exonerated Mr. Bush." (Times of London, February 27, 1989)

• On March 4, 1987, Reagan returned to the airwaves in a nationally televised address, taking full responsibility for any actions that he was unaware of, and admitting that "what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages."
• "The reason I haven't spoken to you before now is this: You deserve the truth. And as frustrating as the waiting has been, I felt it was improper to come to you with sketchy reports, or possibly even erroneous statements, which would then have to be corrected, creating even more doubt and confusion. There's been enough of that."

• "First, let me say I take full responsibility for my own actions and for those of my administration. As angry as I may be about activities undertaken without my knowledge, I am still accountable for those activities. As disappointed as I may be in some who served me, I'm still the one who must answer to the American people for this behavior."
• "A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not. As the Tower board reported, what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages. This runs counter to my own beliefs, to administration policy, and to the original strategy we had in mind."

• "If the president did not know what his national security advisers were doing, he should have."

• Richard Secord told Reuters today that it is "absolutely false" for George Bush to say that he did not know about the Iran-contra deals. Secord also said that Bush was much more "in the loop" than he has admitted. The White House was compelled to issue a denial on Bush's behalf late yesterday afternoon. Secord charged that Bush personally intervened at a critical point when Ronald Reagan had decided not to go forward with the arms-for-hostages deal with Iran and got the secret program back on track.