REAGAN HAS 'NO PLANS' TO SHIP IRAN MORE ARMS, BUT ORDER STILL IN EFFECT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201010014-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: November 16, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201010014-6
WASHINGTON POST
18 November 1986
Reagan Has 'No Plans'
To Ship Iran More Arms,
But Order Still in Effect
By Lou Cannon and Walter Pincus
Wa,hmgron Po,t Staff Writers
President Reagan said yesterday
he had "absolutely no plans" to send
more weapons to Iran, but White
House officials said the president's
secret order authorizing such clan-
destine shipments remains in effect
and does not limit the type or quan-
tity of weapons that could be pro-
vided.
White House spokesman Larry
Speakes, explaining why Reagan
has not rescinded the order, said
that "the ultimate objective of the
president's policy is to establish a
normal relationship with Iran" sim-
ilar to the ties the United States has
with Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Ara-
bia. The United States supplies
arms to all these countries.
Speakes said, however, that sup-
plying additional arms to Iran
"clearly awaits more positive devel-
opments," which he said included an
end to the Iran-Iraq war, a halt of
support for terrorist activities and
release of U.S. hostages held by
groups believed to have ties to Iran.
Reagan's disavowal of any inten-
tion to sell more weapons to Iran
came on the heels of Secretary of
State George P. Shultz's blunt crit-
icism of a secret 18-month White
House effort to open contacts with
Tehran and use arms shipments as
a demonstration of American good
faith. Shultz, appearing Sunday on
CBS' "Face the Nation," said that
providing arms to Iran to send this
signal was "debatable" and he indi-
cated unhappiness with the White
House defense of the sales.
White House officials moved yes-
terday to assert Reagan's authority
over U.S. foreign policy-making,
while playing down the prospect
that Shultz or others might resign
or be fired.
Reagan was asked at a picture-
taking session whether he planned
to fire Shultz because of his re-
marks. "I'm not firing anyone," the
president responded.
A senior White House official said
that "we were miffed that Shultz
could not be more supportive." He
said the president realized that
Shultz was acting out of principle,
but added that his television per-
formance "didn't hit the applause
meter at the White House."
On Sunday morning before he
went on television, Shultz ex-
pressed concern that arms ship-
ments to Iran might be continuing
in an effort to free remaining U.S.
hostages, aides said. Other admin-
istration sources said he had dis-
cussed the issue Saturday at Camp
David with White House chief of
staff Donald T. Regan and Vice
Adm. John M. Poindexter, national
security adviser.
Sources said Shultz told Regan
and Poindexter that he could not
and would not defend the policy of
secretly sending arms to Iran but
would refrain from personal criti-
cism of the president although he
differs with Reagan's declaration
that the secret contacts had borne
some fruit.
In his nationally televised speech
last Thursday, Reagan said that
since the U.S. contacts began,
"there has been no evidence of Iran-
ian government complicity in acts of
terrorism against the United
States." He also pointed out that
"hostages have come home."
Shultz, who has led the adminis-
tration's worldwide efforts to
counter terrorism, has argued that
Iran's attitude toward terrorism
should be measured by its actions
against all nations and not just the
United States. On Sunday he em-
phasized this, saying that "Iran has
and continues to pursue a policy of
terrorism."
In a speech last night in Chicago,
Shultz reasserted his disagreement
with the Iran arms decision and the
way the White House carried out its
secret diplomacy. He also main-
tained that he was kept in the dark,
saying there was "a lot of what tran-
spired that I don't know about."
Shultz said the public debate
since the disclosure of U.S. contacts
with Iran had reinforced his belief
that "it's a mistake for governments
to get into the business of trading
something of genuine importance
for hostages .... All you do is en-
courage the taking of more hos-
tages and put more Americans at
risk."
He said the United States had to
continue exploring opportunities for
an opening to Iran, and that he re-
alized this must be done "quietly,
privately, secretly." But he said a
way had to be found "to take advan-
tage of the checks and balances" in
government as well as its "exper-
tise," an apparent reference to the
White House refusal to listen to his
advice on the danger of sending
arms to Iran.
The Iran policy rift has produced
unusual strains within an adminis-
tration that in past controversies
has tried to formulate a single po-
sition that everyone supported,
then launch a public relations cam-
paign to convince the public.
Regan told The New York
Times, "Some of us are like a shovel
brigade that follow a parade down
Main Street cleaning up. We took
Reykjavik and turned what was re-
ally a sour situation into something
that turned out pretty well."
At the picture-taking session yes-
terday, reporters mentioned
Regan's remark and asked the pres-
ident how "the shovel brigade" was
doing. "I'll be trying to do that on
Wednesday night when I meet with
you," Reagan replied. He was re-
ferring to a scheduled news confer-
ence, his first since Aug. 12.
At briefings yesterday, Speakes
and Charles E. Redman, the State
Department spokesman, differed in
their descriptions of administration
decision-making processes.
"The president makes the deci-
sions," Speakes said.
Redman said that "this building,
the State Department, is the focal
point of foreign policy. That in-
cludes Iran as well as all other areas
of the world."
But Redman, distinguishing be-
tween the broad outlines of foreign
policy and specific operations, ac-
knowledged that the clandestine
arms shipments to Iran were direc-
ted not by Shultz but by Poindexter
".because the president decided that
it would be" done that way.
Speakes said the secret contacts
with Iran probably would be con-
tinuing had it not been for their dis-
closure in the Middle East, con-
firmed by Tehran. "Whether we
have shipped additional arms, I
don't know," he added.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201010014-6
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201010014-6
oZ
The Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence announced Yesterday
that it would hold closed hearings
Friday on the Iran operation and
/4 that William J. Casey, director of
central ht-el IM6e~4qula THE
chief witness.
The House Permanent _ct
Committee on Intelligence also will
meet Friday in closed session, ac-
cording to a spokesman. Witnesses
were not announced.
Staff writer David B. Ottaway
contributed to this report.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201010014-6