A Chronology of U.S.-Middle East Relations

May: 3

The London Observer reported that in a Tehran meeting with speaker of the Iranian Parliament Ali Akbar Rafsanjani in May 1986, Colonel Robert McFarlane, President Reagan's former national security adviser, was shown a transcript of CIA station chief William Buckley's "confession" as well as a four-hour videotaped statement Buckley made under torture. Because the statements revealed "a virtually complete list" of American intelligence operatives in the Middle East, the Observer reported, McFarlane promised Rafsanjani US arms and military intelligence on Iraq if Iran withheld the information. The CIA refused to comment on the story.

May 5:

The Iran-United States Claims Tribunal ordered the US to return roughly $450 million of Iranian assets frozen in US banks since 1981. After the Tribunal urged that the release of American hostages in Lebanon should not be linked to the frozen Iranian assets, President Reagan ordered the release of the funds.

May 11:

In testimony before the congressional committee investigating the Iran-contra affair, former national security adviser Robert McFarlane said that after a May 1984 meeting between President Reagan and Saudi Arabian officials, Saudi Arabia contributed $1 million per month to help the anti-Sandinista contras fighting in Central America. Three weeks after the May 1984 meeting, President Reagan used his emergency powers to bypass Congress and sell Saudi Arabia 400 Stinger ground-to-air missiles, worth about $40 million. In February 1985, McFarlane said, the Saudi contribution to the contras rose to $2 million per month.

May 13:

Richard Murphy, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, returned from a six-day trip to the Middle East. He discussed the Iran-Iraq war and regional security issues with officials from Saudi Arabia, Iraq Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.

May 13:

Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group, issued a report on the mistreatment of Iranian prisoners and called on the Ayatollah Khomeini's regime to stop its "grave human rights abuses." The report, based on "hundreds of reports of torture and ill-treatment," according to Amnesty officials, detailed incidents of beatings, floggings, amputations, and executions. The Iranian government did not respond to the report.

May 13:

Senator Robert Dole (R-KS), a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1988, introduced a congressional bill to close the two PLO offices in New York and Washington, DC. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) criticized the bill on First Amendment grounds.

May 13:

A tie vote in Israel's 10-man "inner cabinet" over Foreign Minister Shimon Peres' proposal for convening an international Middle East peace conference, coming after weeks of increasingly acrimonious public debate, was interpreted as a victory for Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, whose Likud Bloc opposes any negotiations over the West Bank. After the vote, Peres flew to the US to discuss with Secretary of State George Shultz "the principles and formulation of an Israeli-American 'memorandum of understanding'" on the proposed conference, according to the Jerusalem Post.

May 17:

An Iraqi jet fired a French-built Exocet missile at the missile frigate USS Stark, killing 37 crew members and badly damaging the ship. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein issued an apology the following day, and Iraq cooperated with a US Naval team sent to the region to investigate the attack. It was reported that the Iraqi pilot may have misidentified the Stark as an Iranian frigate. Saudi Arabian F-15 fighter jets were in the vicinity, but did not receive orders to pursue the Iraqi jet as it returned to its base. US officials later said that the Saudi pilots had followed the strict guidelines laid down by the US that the jets were intended solely for the defense of the Saudi Kingdom, and were not to be developed in international airspace. Some members of Congress used the Stark incident both to question the Reagan administration's plan to reflag and escort Kuwaiti oil tankers, and to argue against the proposed sale of 12 more F-15 jets to Saudi Arabia. After a week of intense congressional criticism, the administration withdrew "temporarily" the proposed sale of F-15s.

May 21:

Thomas Pickering, US Ambassador to Israel, said the US was "deeply opposed" to Israel's "harsh measures" in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, including "deportations, administrative detentions, and the destruction or sealing of houses...without due process,...trial,...or proof of guilt."

May 26:

Two US Embassy employees in Cairo were injured when unidentified gunmen fired automatic weapons at a car carrying three US officials. Several hours after the shooting a telephone caller told a Western news agency in Cairo the attack was carried out by Egypt's Revolution, a group responsible for three shooting attacks against Israeli embassy personnel in 1985.

May 26:

Two Israeli investigative committees released their reports on the Jonathan Jay Pollard spy scandal, in which Israel paid an American Naval counter-intelligence analyst to steal top secret US documents. Both reports blamed senior leaders from both the Labor and Likud parties, but neither report recommended any action against the officials. The Jerusalem Post later reported that Israel "has no intention" of giving the US copies of the secret annexes of either of the two reports; one of the secret annexes is 45 pages long.

May 27:

After Congressional criticism that it was not being informed about the administration's plan to reflag and escort Kuwaiti oil tankers, the White House postponed implementing the plan for several weeks.

June 1:

Rashid Karami, Lebanon's Prime Minister, was assassinated by a bomb planted in a military helicopter in which he was traveling. No group took responsibility for the murder of the veteran Sunni Muslim leader, who had been Lebanon's Prime Minister 10 times in the last 32 years. Lebanon's Christian and Muslim communities condemned the murder.

June 5:

The Washington Post reported that Kuwait is willing to lease additional oil tankers to the Soviet Union if the US backs out of its pledge to lease 11 Kuwaiti ships. The Post also reported that the first of Iran's Chinese-made Silkworm anti-ship missiles, which are reportedly being deployed near the narrow Straits of Hormuz, may be operational as early as July 1. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger warned Iran that the US would view the missiles as a serious threat as soon as they are deployed. President Reagan said that the US will retaliate against Iran if it attacks a US ship in the Gulf.

June 5:

Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh obtained subpoenas for two Israeli citizens and one US-Israeli dual national in connection with the Iran-contra affair. Unless they travel to the US, it will not be possible to serve the two Israelis—Amiram Nir, former counter-terrorism advisor to Israel's then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and Yaakov Nimrodi, and arms dealer. However, the subpoena was served on Al Schwimmer, who holds dual US-Israeli citizenship. Two weeks earlier, Walsh subpoenaed David Kimche, former director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry and a key player in the sale of arms to Iran. However, pending a final ruling a federal judge stayed the subpoena and allowed Kimche to leave the US without testifying before the federal grand jury currently hearing evidence.