Podbit · Stuff You Should Know
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
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At 17:18 · chapter starts 16:30
The first deal was simple: Israel would transfer 508 TOW missiles to Iran and America would quietly replace them. It worked — American hostage Benjamin Weir, a minister held for 16 months by Lebanese terrorists, was released days later. Emboldened, the team cut Israel out and set up their own supply chain. The Department of Defense sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 apiece; the CIA passed them to Richard Secord at cost; Secord sold them to Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each; Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. Over more than a year, 2,000 missiles and missile parts moved in 8 shipments. The profits piled up so dramatically — one Swiss account earned $3 million in interest alone — that someone made the obvious suggestion: why not use this money to fund the Contras? Congress won't give it to them, so this effectively solves two problems at once. And that is why it's called Iran-Contra. [1] — Josh Clark "The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman G…" 17:18
In the first round of the secret arms deal, 508 TOW missiles were transferred from Israel to Iran in exchange for hostage releases.
The CIA sold missiles to Richard Secord at cost ($3,700), who then sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 apiece, who sold them to Iran at an even higher markup.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran across 8 separate shipments over just over a year.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
Despite all the missile sales, only 3 of the 7 American hostages held by Lebanese terrorists were ultimately released.
The shell companies and Swiss bank accounts set up for the arms deals made so much money that one account earned $3 million in interest alone.
Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
The CIA supply operation used a front company called Southern Air Transport, widely known to be a CIA cover. Crew members of the downed plane carried their Southern Air Transport employee IDs in their wallets. One also had a business card directly linking him to Oliver North's office in Washington.
When the scandal broke, Oliver North and his secretary Fawn Hall conducted what became known as a 'shredding party,' destroying a day's worth of documents. The full truth of Iran-Contra may never be known because of what was fed through that shredder.
The official narrative: John Poindexter wanted to help the Contras, tapped Oliver North, and North went rogue — creating the entire network, brokering the Iran deal, all without Reagan or Bush knowing anything. The American public was not impressed.
President George H.W. Bush issued 6 pardons on Christmas Eve as he was leaving office, freeing all key Iran-Contra figures including Caspar Weinberger and Dewey Claridge, who hadn't yet stood trial. North's conviction had already been overturned on a technicality. The men who ran the operation got 2 years probation each.
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