Israel Orders Four to Ignore Subpoenas in Iran-Contra Probe

Israel has instructed four of its citizens who helped sell U.S. arms to Iran to ignore U.S. subpoenas and cancel travel plans to the United States until the court orders are withdrawn, government sources said Monday.

The sources said subpoenas were issued ordering the four Israelis to appear before a federal grand jury working with Lawrence E. Walsh, the independent counsel investigating possible criminal activities in the Iran- contra affair.

“The Walsh committee has issued the (four) subpoenas and we don’t go along with it,” one Israeli government official said. “We have expressed the position that it should be done on a level of state to state.”

The four Israelis are David Kimche, a private arms dealer and former director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, who was subpoenaed in May; Al Schwimmer, described by the Tower Commission as an intermediary between the United States and Iran in the arms deal; Yaacov Nimrodi, also a private arms dealer and former agent for the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, and Amiram Nir, counterterrorism adviser to Israel’s prime minister.