Top Aide to Peres Linked to Financing Effort : Bigger Israeli Role in Iran Arms Deal Reported

In an apparent contradiction of Israeli claims that Israel played only a minor role in the shipment of U.S. arms to Iran this year, sources confirmed Friday that a top aide to Prime Minister Shimon Peres tried to help two arms merchants secure $15 million to finance a spring, 1986, U.S.-to-Iran weapons deal.

The aide, Amiram Nir, accompanied Saudi Arabian arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi and Iranian businessman Manucher Ghorbanifar to a meeting in London the night of April 8 with Roland W. (Tiny) Rowland, chief executive of Lonrho, a British trading and mining conglomerate, sources said. The meeting continued into the early morning.

One senior Israeli government official told The Times that Nir went along to provide assurances of American backing for the weapons shipments.

Disclosure of Nir’s participation in the attempted fund-raising effort--which occurred more than four months after Israeli officials have said they ceased all but minor logistical support of the arms operation--casts new doubt on statements minimizing Israel’s role in the later stages of the affair.

Rabin’s Complaint

While Israel has conceded that in the summer and fall of 1985 it shipped U.S.-made weapons from its own stockpiles to Iran, officials say that participation was stopped last December after Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin complained that the United States was not resupplying the material fast enough.

“I can’t afford this lag time,” Rabin was quoted as saying by an Israeli government source. He said the United States took two to three months to replenish Israeli supplies.

According to the source, on the eve of a trip by Nir to Washington last January, Rabin told the aide that “he wanted out of the money and the (U.S. arms transfer) business.”

In Israel, it has been commonly assumed that the United States took over all essential aspects of arms shipping and financing for the duration of the covert operation. And in all public statements since news of the controversy mushroomed, Israel has stressed repeatedly that it was particularly distanced from any financial involvement in the affair.

‘Bridge Loan’ Sought

The Nir fund-raising support figures to undermine that claim. It was also learned that Nir reportedly had advised Israeli authorities about his participation some time ago.

According to Rowland, the arms merchants sought a $15-million “bridge loan” to cover the costs of shipping a load of arms until Iran’s payment was returned.

“(Khashoggi) was in a hurry to get the cash,” Rowland said. The funds were to be transferred to a Swiss bank account in Ghorbanifar’s name.

However, negotiations broke down, Rowland confirmed, when at about 3 a.m. he called his longtime friend, David Kimche, former director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Kimche, who had been involved in the 1985 arms shipments to Iran via Israel, told Rowland: “‘I wouldn’t touch that with a 10-foot pole,’ ” Rowland recalled.

Search for Front Money

The British tycoon refused to make the loan. According to reports published this week in the Israeli publication Koteret Rashit, the arms merchants contacted a number of other wealthy businessmen in search of front money for the shipments.

Sources outside Israel also confirmed Friday that Peres had met privately in Israel with Khashoggi and Iranian businessman Cyrus Hashemi in the summer of 1985, just weeks before the first U.S. arms shipment to Iran via Israel.

Shortly after that visit, Hashemi became a U.S. government informant in a customs service “sting” investigation of illegal arms shipments, leading to the arrest of three Israeli citizens, including Avraham Bar-Am, a retired general.