THE CRISIS IN THE WHITE HOUSE : Seizure of U.S. Embassy Led to Embargo : Iran-Contras Chain: A Chronology

Here is a chronology of significant events leading up to the disclosure Tuesday that some proceeds from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran were diverted to the rebels fighting the Marxist Sandinista government of Nicaragua:

Nov. 4, 1979--Militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and hold 52 Americans hostage for the next 14 months, triggering a U.S. embargo on the shipment of arms and spare parts to the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini’s followers had overthrown the government of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the recipient of billions of dollars in U.S. military equipment during the previous decade.

September, 1980--Iran-Iraq War begins, and two months later the United States rejects an Iranian request to buy spare parts for F-14 warplanes. During the next several years, Iran goes into the international black market in an extensive and expensive effort to obtain parts to maintain its military arsenal.

December, 1981--Congressional intelligence committees are told of President Reagan’s secret decision to channel arms and money to the contras in Nicaragua.

December, 1982--Congress adopts restrictions on aid to the contras.

October, 1983--In Beirut, 241 U.S. servicemen are killed in a truck-bomb attack on the U.S. Marines’ headquarters by a suicidal driver linked to a pro-Iranian Shia Muslim group.

November, 1983--President Reagan wins congressional approval of his request for $24 million in aid for the contras.

January, 1984--The Reagan Administration formally lists Iran as a supporter of international terrorism and tightens control on Iranian purchases of U.S. goods.

April, 1984--The disclosure that the CIA provided logistics and supervision for the mining of Nicaraguan harbors creates an uproar in Congress, where Reagan is seeking additional aid for the contras.

June, 1985--The National Security Council circulates a secret CIA memo suggesting an easing of the U.S. embargo on arms shipments to Iran. When the document reaches the desk of Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger, he scribbles his views in the margin: “Absurd.”

July, 1985--Iranian officials help win freedom for 39 American hostages aboard TWA Flight 847 hijacked to Beirut. That produces what one U.S. source calls “a great stirring of interest” within the Administration on the prospects of improving relations with Iran.

Late July, 1985--Robert C. McFarlane, Reagan’s national security adviser, is approached by David Kimche, then director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. According to the Washington Post, which quoted sources close to McFarlane, Kimche tells McFarlane that there are elements in Iran who wish to establish a dialogue with the Reagan Administration and are willing to obtain the release of U.S. hostages in Lebanon in turn for “good-faith” shipments of arms to Iran.

Late Summer, 1985--McFarlane discusses the Israeli proposal with Reagan, but, according to U.S. government sources, the President rejects any arms shipments to Iran.

August, 1985--Congress approves $27 million in “humanitarian” aid to the contras, specifically forbidding any use of the funds for military aid.

August-September, 1985--Israel makes a clandestine shipment of U.S. arms and spare parts to Iran. A dispute persists to this day over whether Reagan specifically approved of this shipment in advance. The Israelis say they acted with authorization from the Reagan Administration; U.S. officials say the President did not know about it until later.

Sept. 9, 1985--The Rev. Benjamin Weir, a Presbyterian minister, is released after 16 months of captivity in Lebanon.

November, 1985--Another Israeli shipment of arms goes to Iran. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III said Tuesday that it was later returned.

December, 1985--McFarlane announces he is resigning as Reagan’s national security adviser. John M. Poindexter, his deputy, is named to succeed him.

Jan. 17, 1986--Reagan signs secret order authorizing direct U.S. arms shipments to Iran through the CIA and other government conduits. The order instructs the CIA not to tell Congress of the operation.

Feb. 25, 1986--Reagan asks Congress to vote $100 million in aid for the contras, including $70 million in military assistance.

May 28, 1986--McFarlane, as a private citizen, arrives in Tehran with Lt. Col. Oliver North, a member of his National Security Council staff, on a plane that also carries military equipment to the Iranians. He departs after four days of what are described by the sources close to him as “frustrating” talks with middle-level Iranian officials.

June 26, 1986--The House, for the first time in three years, acts favorably on a Reagan request for military aid for the contras. The legislation is eventually signed into law by Reagan, but, as of mid-November, contra leaders complain that the money had still not begun to flow.

July, 1986--Another shipment of U.S. arms to Iran reportedly occurs, one more of the three or four shipments that Meese says were made between January and September.

July 26, 1986--Father Lawrence M. Jenco, a Roman Catholic priest who had been kidnaped in Beirut on Jan. 8, 1985, is released.

Oct. 5, 1986--A C-123 cargo plane carrying weapons and other supplies to the contras is shot down in Nicaragua. Three crew members, including two Americans, are killed, but U.S. mercenary Eugene Hasenfus parachutes to safety and is captured.

Oct. 9, 1986--Hasenfus, in a news conference staged by his Sandinista captors, says he worked with people he believed were CIA employees and took part in numerous flights to resupply the contras.

October, 1986--Newspaper articles describe North’s deep involvement in arranging the privately financed shipments of arms to the contras. Vice President George Bush confirms that he had met several times with a former CIA agent who was described as a key figure in the covert program, but Bush insists that he did not coordinate the contra supply effort.

Oct. 31, 1986--A magazine in Beirut--Ash Shiraa--publishes a story asserting that McFarlane made a secret trip to Iran.

Nov. 2, 1986--David P. Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital who was kidnaped May 28, 1985, is released in Beirut.

Nov. 4, 1986--The Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Hashemi Rafsanjani, discloses that McFarlane visited Iran. Reagan Administration officials confirm that the Administration had told Iran that the arms embargo could be eased if other hostages were released.

Nov. 13, 1986--Reagan, in a nationally televised speech, acknowledges an 18-month “secret diplomatic initiative” involving the shipment of “small amounts of defensive weapons and spare parts” to Iran but denies that he traded arms for hostages.

Nov. 15, 1986--Hasenfus is convicted by a tribunal in Nicaragua and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Nov. 19, 1986--Amid a continuing controversy over his secret program, Reagan says at a nationally televised broadcast that he has ruled out any further arms deliveries to Iran. He insists that the covert operation was not a mistake.