2.1 KiB
| category | tags | summary | born | died | location | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arms Dealers & Brokers |
|
Iranian exile involved in secret arms sales and hostage negotiations during Iran-Contra who became a U.S. Customs informant before being found dead in London under suspicious circumstances. | 1938-12-27 | 1986-07-21 | Iran |
Cyrus Hashemi was one of the Hashemi brothers, an Iran living in the United States who claimed connections to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini son, Ahmed Khomeini. He was involved in secret arms sales and negotiations concerning the United States hostages in Tehran.1
Cyrus Hashemi and his brothers made money selling small quantities of military equipment to Iran, supposedly to gain goodwill for hostage release. He was later indicted under the Arms Export Control Act for illegal arms sales to Iran, but escaped the United States before apprehension. He subsequently agreed to become an informant for U.S. Customs against the Iran exile community.1
Cyrus Hashemi was used by Oliver North and U.S. Customs in a sting operation to entrap individuals connected with Israel intelligence arms sales to Iran. He was to act as bait, claiming to have $1 billion of Iran money to spend on weapons. He allowed his phone to be tapped and himself to be wired for this operation.1
Cyrus Hashemi was found dead in his London apartment, with his death attributed to a sudden case of virulent leukemia. However, Israel intelligence suspected foul play, noting the presence of Joe King, a U.S. Customs officer, at his apartment shortly before his death and needle punctures on his elbow joint. Tapes of his phone calls to the United States Attorney's office indicated a falling out with his controllers.1
Footnotes
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Ben-Menashe, Ari. Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network. TrineDay, 1992. ↩︎