Arms Profits May Have Reached Kidnapers

Some profits from the sale of arms to Iran went to an Iranian group that financed the kidnapers of Americans in Lebanon, raising the possibility that some of the money reached the hostage-takers, according to a published report.

The payments were made by Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian middleman in the sale of U.S. arms to Iran, the New York Times reported in today’s editions, quoting U.S. officials and associates of Ghorbanifar.

Ghorbanifar associates said the money was “ransom” paid as part of the effort to gain the freedom of the American hostages, but an American official described it as “payments for services rendered,” the Times said.

The newspaper quoted unidentified American officials and associates of Ghorbanifar interviewed in the United States and Western Europe as saying that $2 million to $3 million of the money that Iran paid for the arms was deposited by Ghorbanifar last year in the Swiss bank account of an Iranian organization, the Global Islamic Movement.

The Times said the group helped finance and organize terrorist groups in Lebanon, including the Party of God, the Shia group thought to have been behind many of the kidnapings.