United States support for Iran during the Iran–Iraq war

The United States supplied arms to Iran during the 1984-1986 period of Iran–Iraq War. These arms deals were clandestine, and eventually became known as the Iran-Contra affair.

Arms for hostages

In the 1984-1986 time frame, the United States supplied arms to Iran in exchange for the release of hostages by Hezbollah in Lebanon, in a series of secret dealings which would become known as "Iran-Contra affair". According to the New York Times [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE3DB173EF93AA25752C1A961948260 "IRAN-CONTRA REPORT; Arms, Hostages and Contras: How a Secret Foreign Policy Unraveled" March 16 1984] ] , the United States supplied the following arms to Iran during the 1984-1986 period of the Iran–Iraq War:
*August 20 1984. 96 TOW anti-tank missiles
*September 14 1984. 408 more TOWs
*November 24 1984. 18 Hawk anti-aircraft missiles
*February 17 1986. 500 TOWs
*February 27 1986. 500 TOWs
*May 24 1986. 508 TOWs, 240 Hawk spare parts
*4 August 1986. More Hawk spares
*28 October 1986. 500 TOWs

These transfers were clandestine, and eventually became known as the Iran-Contra affair. They were run by a small group within the US government which arranged for the indirect transfer of arms to Iran as a means of circumventing the Boland Amendments. The latter were intended, in part, to prevent the expenditure of US funds to support the Nicaraguan Contras. Since the arms-for-hostages deal struck by the Reagan Administration channeled money for to the Contras, the legal interpretation of the time was that the CIA, as an organization, could not participate in Iran-Contra.

The relationships, first to avoid Boland Amendment restriction, but also for operational security, did not directly give or sell U.S. weapons to Iran. Instead, the Reagan Administration authorized Israel to sell munitions to Iran, using contracted Iranian arms broker Manucher Ghorbanifar. [cite web
last = Walsh
first = Lawrence
authorlink = Lawrence E. Walsh
title = Vol. I: Investigations and prosecutions
work = Final report of the independent counsel for Iran/Contra matters
publisher = Independent Counsel appointed by the United States Department of Justice
date = 1993-08-04
url = http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_16.htm] The proceeds from the sales, less the 41% markup charged by Ghorbanifar and originally at a price not acceptable to Iran, went directly to the Contras. Those proceeds were not interpreted as U.S. funds. The Administration resupplied Israel, which was not illegal, with munitions that replaced those transferred to Iran.

While Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) William Casey was deeply involved in Iran-Contra, Casey, a World War II Office of Strategic Services (OSS) clandestine operations officer, ran the Iran operation with people outside the CIA, such as White House/National Security Council employees such as John Poindexter and Oliver North, as well as retired special operations personnel such as John K. Singlaub and Richard Secord.

Intelligence

The US had been providing intelligence to Iran prior to the war. In mid-October 1979, at the request of the United States Department of State, a CIA officer went to Tehran and warned the government, mid-October 1979, of Iraq's plan to invade. US cooperation of this type stopped when the U.S. embassy was seized.}citation
title = The 1980-1988 Iran–Iraq War: A CWIHP [Cold War International History Project] Critical Oral History Conference
publisher = Cold War International History Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Project for Scholars, the Middle East Program, and the National Security Archive of George Washington University
first = Dana | last = Steinberg
url = http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.item&news_id=90411]

atellite imaging

Richard Sale of UPI quoted a former U.S. official as follows: [http://www.upi.com/International_Intelligence/Analysis/2003/04/10/exclusive_saddam_key_in_early_cia_plot/6557/ "Exclusive: Saddam key in early CIA plot", by Richard Sale, UPI, April 10 2003] ] :

a former official said that he personally had signed off on a document that shared U.S. satellite intelligence with both Iraq and Iran in an attempt to produce a military stalemate. "When I signed it, I thought I was losing my mind," the former official told UPI.

trategic Intent

Author George Crile, in his book Charlie Wilson's War, writes regarding CIA involvement in the Iran–Iraq War:George Crile, "Charlie Wilson's War", 2003, Grove Press, p. 275]

As explained by Ed Juchniewicz - Avrakotos's patron and the number two man in the Operations Division at that time - they were just leveling the playing field: "We didn't want either side to have the advantage. We just wanted them to kick the shit out of each other".

In 1985, a CIA analyst,Graham Fuller, had proposed that the US should offer to sell weapons to Iran, as a means of blocking Soviet influence there. Robert M. Gates, then head of the CIA National Intelligence Council, advanced the suggestion, which circulated over the signature of Director of Central Intelligence William Casey. The section was rejected by the incumbent Secretary of State George Schultz and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.citation
first = Stephen | last = Engelberg
journal = New York Times
date = 23 February 1987
title = C.I.A. Nominee tied to '85 Memo urging Iran Arms Deals
url = ]

ee also

*U.S. support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war
*Iran–Iraq War
*United States-Iran relations

References