REPORT OF LONDON ARMS DEAL 'SAFE HOUSE'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100240003-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2011
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: December 1, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/02/24 :CIA-RDP91-005878000100240003-4
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
1 December 1986
f ~tE ONLY
REPORT OF LONDON AR~1S. DEAL ' SAFE HpUSE'
LONDON
A retired U.S, Air Force general worked from a "safe house " in London to
arrange secret deals that supplied American weapons to Iran, the Sunday Times
reported .
Another newspaper, the weekly Observer, reported Sunday that an Israeli arms
dealer with offices in London supplied Iran with U.S. weapons for tf~e last six
years with apparent official sanction from Jerusalem.
" With the knowledge of the British government, London has become the center
for the lucrative arms trade which keeps the Iranian war machine supplied, " the
Observer said.
The Sunday Times, citing " a Washington source intimately involved with the
deal " said retired Air Force Gen. Richard Secord "was part of a team brought
to London at the end of last year, " -
The "safe house," the Sunday Times said, was opened early this year and
operated until November. It said Secord was brought to London " to arrange
weapons transfers to Iran by Lt. Col. Oliver North. "
North, military adviser to the National Security Council, was fired last week
after a disclosure that money from the Iran deal was diverted to Contra rebels
fighting in Nicaragua at a time when U.S. funding of the Contras was illegal.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declined comment on the
newspaper reports,, but reiterated that U.S. arms sales to Iran were " a matter
for the United States. "
The Times said Secord met his team, including a former CIA station chief in
Iran. at a "safe house " in London's West End without the knowledge of the U.S.
Embassy or British intelligence. -
The Times said Britain was chosen as a "convenient base " for the operation
because of its central location between Iran, Israel and the United States and
becase of its good communications.
Many of the largest arms deals, the Observer said, were negotiated in London
through Iranian military officers stationed at Iran's national oil company in
the British capital.
The Times quoted its Washington source as saying because of a series of
"mishaps " in the transactions, President Reagan's national security adviser
Robert McFarlane turned the whole project over to North shortly before McFarlane
resigned last December.
" He simply wrapped all the dirty dishes inside the tablecloth and handed it
to Ollie (North) and told him to sort it out," the unidentified source told the
Times.
The report said North set up a team including Secord; Noel Koch, then
assistant secretary at the Pentagon responsible for special operations; George
Cave, a farmer CIA station chief in Tehran, and Colin Powell, military`
assistant to U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger.
But Weinberger "was kept in the dark," the Times report said.
Approved For Release 2011/02/24 :CIA-RDP91-005878000100240003-4