Israeli Role in Arms Deal Laid to 1985 Reagan Hostage Plea

Israel’s involvement in the controversial U.S. arms-to-Iran affair began in early 1985 after a direct request from President Reagan to then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres for help in freeing William Buckley, the late CIA Beirut station chief kidnaped by pro-Iranian elements in Lebanon, the Israeli media reported Friday.

An unusual flurry of reports on the Iranian arms operation in several newspapers here described also serious reservations among various officials at different stages of the plan. And they contend that a delay in the release of hostage Benjamin Weir in 1985 resulted from an Israeli decision to “test” Iranian intentions with a partial shipment of missiles that had been requested by Tehran.

The reports coincided with a government spokesman’s confirmation that Israel is “gathering information” in anticipation of an official request from Washington for cooperation in U.S. inquiries into the affair.

The new Israeli media accounts of the history of the operation are believed to reflect a semi-official version of events. Senior government figures involved continue to refuse to comment publicly on most details of the affair.

Until recently, Israeli media coverage has been severely restricted by military censorship. However, several articles in Friday’s newspapers seemed to be the result of sanctioned leaks from various participants.

According to those accounts, the initial move was Reagan’s request for assistance in gaining the release of Buckley, who was taken hostage in March, 1984, by the Hezbollah (Party of God) faction in Lebanon. The United States was particularly concerned that Buckley would be tortured into disclosing U.S. secrets.

Peres met with Israeli businessman Al Schwimmer in March, 1985, and asked his advice, according to a lengthy account in Haaretz by Yoel Marcus, a journalist considered close to the then-prime minister. Schwimmer, an American-born Israeli who founded Israeli Aircraft Industries, “came up with the formula of ‘arms for Buckley,’ ” Marcus said.

Schwimmer suggested making use of former Mossad intelligence agent and arms dealer Jacob Nimrodi, who had been Israel’s military attache in Tehran before the fall of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and who had previously arranged “several meetings” between Peres and Saudi Arabian arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.

According to the article, Nimrodi met with Peres, who “gave Nimrodi the green light to translate Schwimmer’s formula into action.”

This account conforms to a statement issued by Nimrodi last Sunday describing a meeting “in the office of a top Israeli government official.”

Nimrodi and Schwimmer worked through Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian businessman and former commander in the shah’s SAVAK secret service, living in exile. The original proposal was to swap Israeli arms for Buckley. According to Marcus, Ghorbanifar made a secret visit to Israel in mid-1985 and personally selected the items needed by Iran.

Like a Supermarket

Recounted Marcus: “It was as if he was shopping in a supermarket, someone said later. ‘Give me 50 of this, 25 of that . . . .’ ”

But, on the eve of the shipment, Ghorbanifar phoned urgently to say that Tehran had changed its mind and wanted 500 TOW missiles in exchange for Buckley, who, it later turned out, was apparently already dead. “The Iranians deceived not only Nimrodi, but also (perhaps) Ghorbanifar,” Marcus wrote.

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin reportedly objected strongly to the arrangement at this stage, so Nimrodi suggested an “advance” shipment of 100 TOWs. Rabin agreed, provided that a $3.5-million payment be made in advance for the weapons and that then-White House National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane agree in writing that Washington would replace the missiles sent to Iran.

Schwimmer and the then-director general of the Foreign Ministry, David Kimche, went to Washington and received a cover letter from McFarlane, according to the Marcus account.

Marcus reports that there were serious reservations among Israeli leaders about the operation but that they did not want to reject a request made “in the name of the President (Reagan).”

The Iranians refused to release any hostages when the first planeload of 100 TOWs arrived. “ ‘What do you want?’ Ghorbanifar asked his Israeli contacts in an angry phone conversation recounted by Marcus. “ ‘We agreed on 500 and you sent 100. Do you want the Iranians to send an arm and a leg of Buckley’s as an advance?’ ”

Hostage Released

The remaining TOWs were sent in a second shipment and, within hours, on Sept. 14, 1985, Benjamin Weir was released. Nimrodi was paid $5 million, according to Marcus, a sum he turned over to the Israeli government less “a million and something dollars” for expenses. “It’s not clear whether Israel paid the U.S. for the TOW missiles or kept the money,” Marcus adds.

Later, the Iranians asked for 80 “improved-Hawk,” or I-Hawk, missile batteries in return for the rest of the American hostages.

Both Marcus and Yediot Ahronot, Israel’s largest newspaper, reported Friday that unidentified Israeli Defense Ministry personnel substituted an older version of the Hawk missile in this shipment.

“The Iranians are furious at receiving old Hawks,” Marcus reported. “Ghorbanifar is panicky, thinking he’s been the victim of a scam. The plane’s pilots are imprisoned. Al Schwimmer calls the Defense Ministry’s director general and demands that the Iranians be given their money back. ‘We’ve been treated like dirt,’ Al Schwimmer is heard to shout.”

Covert Operation Endorsed

Later, according to several media accounts here, this incident served as a backdrop for the removal of Schwimmer, Nimrodi and Kimche as Israel’s point men in the program and the emergence of Peres’ anti-terrorism adviser, Amiram Nir, as Israel’s coordinator in a new phase of the operation. This phase began with President Reagan’s signing, last Jan. 17, of a secret “finding” endorsing the covert operation.

Another account Friday, in the newspaper Hadashot, suggested that Nir spread criticism of Nimrodi and Schwimmer among his contacts in Washington until the Reagan Administration suggested that he be put in charge. A senior Israeli official had earlier told The Times that Nir became involved only after an American official, believing mistakenly that Nir was fully briefed, disclosed details of the operation to him.

All the Israeli accounts agree that Peres endorsed the switch to Nir and that it caused bad blood with the team of Nimrodi and Schwimmer.

Yediot Ahronot reported Friday that Israeli officials are still trying to trace $7 million that cannot be accounted for in connection with arms shipments made in 1986, after President Reagan signed his Jan. 17 “finding.” It contended also that the inquiry has already determined that “at least” three Swiss bank accounts were opened to handle financing of the 1986 shipments.

Israeli officials privately denied the report Friday, reiterating that they know of only one American account into which the Iranian representative transferred money directly for the weapons shipped in 1986.