Death of Adnan Khashoggi; Link in Iran-Contra Affair and Arms Dealer

Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi businessman and arms dealer, passed away on June 6, 2017, at the age of 81 due to Parkinson's disease, after a life filled with glamour, debt, and scandal. Khashoggi's name is more widely known in Iran due to the Iran-Contra affair, also known as Iran-gate and the McFarlane affair, which occurred between August 20, 1985, and March 1986 during Ronald Reagan's second term as President of the United States. According to a brief obituary published by The Guardian, Khashoggi facilitated the secret sale of 1,500 American missiles to the Islamic Republic by creating connections between Iranian officials and Israeli politicians. At that time, the Islamic Republic was under an arms embargo, and the Reagan administration hoped that selling these missiles would achieve two goals: freeing American hostages in Beirut and funding the Nicaraguan Contras. The U.S. Congress had prohibited funding and financial assistance to these rebels. Under a White House plan, Israel agreed to sell 1,500 missiles to Iran and, in return, would receive the same number of missiles from the U.S. by transferring the proceeds from the sale. The Iranian recipients promised to exert all their efforts to free the American hostages in Beirut. In this context, Ronald Reagan sent former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane to Iran to engage with moderate factions, including Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, but this mission failed. Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council was involved in diverting part of the profits from the arms sale to fund the Contras or the Sandinista National Liberation Front. In Iran, this matter was raised through a letter sent by Manouchehr Ghorbanifar via Fathollah Omid Najafabadi (a representative in the first parliament and a judge in Isfahan) to Ayatollah Montazeri, and it was ultimately revealed by the Lebanese newspaper al-Shiraa. The revelation of this affair in the U.S., triggered by the crash of an American cargo plane over Nicaragua, forced Ronald Reagan to officially apologize to the American people and Congress in 1987 and acknowledge the truth of the Iran-Contra affair. Khashoggi's role in the Iran-Contra affair was not his first experience as a broker. He had a global reputation for connecting various governments with contractors and arms companies, earning substantial income. According to The Guardian, the U.S. Senate concluded an investigation in 1975, revealing that Lockheed paid Khashoggi $106 million, while Northrop and Raytheon paid him $54 million and $23 million, respectively. The investigation also showed that he received $54 million from a French company for brokering a tank sale and $7 million from a British helicopter manufacturer. In addition to these brokerage revenues, Lockheed and Northrop made further payments of $100 million and $3 million to Khashoggi, respectively. Khashoggi's dealings were a significant reason for the passage of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, which prohibits bribing foreign officials by American companies and entities to assist in securing commercial and arms contracts. According to Defense One, Khashoggi, who referred to himself as a businessman and denied being labeled an arms dealer, became one of the wealthiest individuals through his brokerage and connections between arms companies and purchasing governments or their representatives, with his wealth reaching £2.4 billion at one point. Khashoggi was a friend of the Saudi royal family, mingled with Hollywood elites, and owned homes and apartments worldwide. He also owned a very luxurious yacht, which he eventually sold to Donald Trump (the current U.S. President) for $30 million in 1987. Khashoggi's empire began to decline after 1987 and the Iran-Contra scandal and Reagan's apology. He was arrested in Switzerland that same year and extradited to the U.S. on charges of extortion and fraud but was ultimately acquitted in a federal court and continued his lavish lifestyle, which cost $250,000 a day. Born in Mecca on July 25, 1935, Khashoggi was one of the sons of the personal physician to King Saud, starting his brokerage career at age 21 while studying at a college in the U.S., earning $150,000 for brokering a $3 million truck sale to Egypt. He never completed his education in the U.S. During the 1960s and 70s, when Saudi Arabia was spending significant amounts of oil revenue on arms and equipment, Khashoggi, known as 'Mr. Fixer,' acted as a liaison between his friends in the Saudi family and his Western friends in American and British arms factories. Gaining fame and experience in brokerage, he gradually increased his commission to 15% of completed deals, thereby achieving legendary wealth. Throughout his life, he married three times and left behind eight children. One of his wives, whom he married in 1991, was Shahpari Zangeneh, an Iranian citizen whom some Iranian media referred to as the 'Goddess of Trade.'