Israel May Not Let Officials Testify in U.S. on Iran Deal

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir indicated Thursday that Israeli officials who were involved in U.S. arms sales to Iran will not be sent to Washington to testify directly to American investigators concerning their roles in the affair.

Although he said that Israel will cooperate in the investigations, Shamir added that “I don’t think it’s necessary” for the officials who dealt with U.S. representatives during the affair to undergo direct questioning.

Ready to Cooperate

“We are ready to cooperate with our American friends, and we will find the appropriate ways,” Shamir told reporters during a visit to the West Bank town of Jericho, where he met with municipal officials.

Late last week, Shamir said that cooperation in the investigations of the Iran arms affair might take the form of written questions and answers.

Israeli officials explained that the questions would have to be handled on a government-to-government basis rather than take the form of direct questions to individual Israeli officials involved in the U.S.-Iran arms program.

Tower Sees Envoy

But it appeared both from Shamir’s remarks in Jericho and from a meeting in Washington on Wednesday between Israeli Ambassador Meir Rosenne and former Sen. John Tower (R-Tex.), chairman of the presidential commission investigating the White House role in the scandal, that no definite agreement has been reached on how to examine the role of the Israelis.

An official who spoke on condition that he not be identified said the Rosenne-Tower meeting was the first official direct contact the two countries have had on the subject and that the manner of eliciting information from the Israelis still had to be worked out “through the proper channels.”

The Senate Intelligence Committee, which has been investigating the affair, released a report last Friday naming former Foreign Ministry official David Kimche and Amiram Nir, counterterrorism adviser to then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres, as playing key roles in inspiring and carrying out the abortive arms-for-hostages deal.

Ex-Spy Named

The Senate committee report also named millionaire arms dealer Jacob Nimrodi, one-time chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency in Iran, and Al Schwimmer, an industrialist who holds both U.S. and Israeli citizenship.

Both Kimche and Nir have been questioned by members of the Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Israeli parliament, and the committee reported Wednesday that “the information received . . . gives no reason to question the government of Israel’s statement on Israel’s role in the various stages of this (Iran arms) action.”

The Israeli government has repeatedly denied playing a key part in instigating the arms affair.