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Cyrus Hashemi was one of the Hashemi brothers, an Iran living in the USA who claimed connections to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini son, Ahmed Khomeini. He was involved in secret arms sales and negotiations concerning the USA 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 USA before apprehension. He subsequently agreed to become an informant for United States Customs Service against the Iran exile community.1
Cyrus Hashemi was used by Oliver North and United States Customs Service 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 United States Customs Service officer, at his apartment shortly before his death and needle punctures on his elbow joint. Tapes of his phone calls to the USA 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. (Hereafter, "Profits of War") ↩︎