Key Iranian Assails U.S. Congress, Media for Attacking Reagan
The Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, a key figure in the arms controversy, has criticized the U.S. Congress and the media for attacking President Reagan, a Tehran newspaper reported.
Hashemi Rafsanjani said Reagan did “something foolish” by sending former National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane with a planeload of arms to Iran, but he may have been “duped by the (arms) dealers” into doing this, the Tehran newspaper Kayhan said Saturday.
Rafsanjani, who represents Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the Supreme Defense Council, said Iran has been buying U.S.-made arms through the dealers “for the past five or six years.”
He said the Western media and Reagan’s “enemies” in the Democratic Party in Congress were blowing the incident out of proportion “for their own political ends.”
Rafsanjani also said Reagan was telling the truth when he said only one planeload of arms and military supplies was delivered.
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