The Iran Brief®

Policy, Trade & Strategic Affairs

An investigative tool for business executives, government, and the media.

Fanning the Flames: Guns, Greed & Geopolitics in theGulf War

by KennethR. Timmerman

Click here to readbiographical information

Publication history

Fanning the Flames was written in 1986-1987, and syndicatedworldwide by the New York Times Syndication Sales. Fullcontents and Selected excerpts can beviewed separately.

Four complete chapters appeared in the Dutchnewsweekly De Tijd in December 1986 and January 1987. In December1987, the Swedish chapter, which recounted recently-assassinatedPrime Minister Olof Palme's ties to Rev. Guards commander MohsenRafiq-doost, appeared as "Den Förlorade Oskulden," in ZMagazine in Stockholm.

The NewYork Times ran a section on the Damavand project (U.S. armsdealers attempting to sell F-4 fighters to Iran with covert WhiteHouse backing) under the byline of their own writer, Stuart Diamond,on Feb. 2, 1987 ( "Huge Illegal Deal on Arms for Iran was Known toUS")

L'Express and its Belgian edition, Le Vif Express, ranFrench-language cover stories based on the book ( "Iran-Iraq: QuiProfite du Carnage," l'Express (France) and Le Vif/l'Express(Belgium), Feb 6-12, 1987).

But the only complete edition of the book was published by a smallGerman-language publisher in Switzerland, under the title:Ol ins Feuer, (Orell Füssli, Zurich, 1988).

The New York Times had negotiated a book contract with a Frenchpublisher, and even had galleys and a mock-upcover for the French translation, but the publisher pulled thebook at the last minute because of the poor quality of thetranslation, done on contract by an individual with ties to Frenchintelligence.

A separate contract was negotiated and signed with a U.S.publisher... who sat on the manuscript for over a year, only to pullout also. It turned out that the publisher in question was closelytied to then Presidential candidate George Bush, who was a majorfigure in the book.

The Dutch chapters

 

Full Contents (author's Englishtranslation)

Part I - Iraq: BAZAAR BARGAINING

Chapter 1. The Soviet Connection

A troubled relationship... The price of allegiance... Globalstrategy... Kurdish rebels, and a palace coup... 'Only three bombsleft'... The first Soviet embargo... Diversifying sources...Rebuilding the army... Baghdad high noon... Afghanistan, Yemen, andthe anti-Soviet pact... The sheathed sword... War against themullahs... Soviet 'neutrality'... The Russian Janus... The Soviet connection... Stretching the Soviet strings... The MiG 29...

Chapter 2. Saddam's French Lover

A personal friend... A long courtship... Arms for oil and oil forarms... The first mirage... The dynamic of French arms sales... Twofeet in the door... Shrouds of secrecy... Dashed hopes and mutualbenefits... The 2nd oil crisis... Saad 13: a Thomson first... TarekAziz and the war chest... In come the socialists... $10 billion at stake... The Super-Etendard Affair... The best and the brightest...Flying French into the 21st Century... Silence, we'renegociating...A marriage of reason...

Chapter 3. A Slice of the Cake

Brazil & company... The Majnoon oil fields... Volkswagons, chickens, and steel... Brazilian armored cars... On the tarmac ofSao Jose dos Campos... Italian frigates... NATO avionics for Soviethelicopters... Helicopters from the US... And from West Germany...China enters the running... India and Pakistan teach Iraqi pilotshow to turn... Competition for the French... The South Africangun... The future...

Chapter 4. The Nuclear Threat

The race to Armageddon... Israel's nuclear Massada... Atomicpower under the Shah... Iraq... The safeguards... The French lend ahand... We've just given the Ayatollah the Bomb!... An Argentinecover... And U.S. technology...

Part II - Iran: RUNNING THE EMBARGO

Chapter5. Thou shalt not threaten American interests

The Shah builds an army... Influential friends... The Nixondoctrine... Carter and the Shah... Khomeiny sours the show...Islamic purity... Carter's last attempt to woe... Suppose they gavea war... Bani Sadr reorganizes the air force... The Noget coup...Iranian Cobras... A mysterious crash...

Chapter 6.The Black Market Arms Extravaganza

London and Geneva: Open for business... Tehran: Council of war...How to buy arms on the black market... The RCC Company of Stamford,Conn... Smuggling, American style... Here a broker, there abroker... Rafsanjani, Tabatabai, and the shelter companies... CIACobras... NATO gas masks... The Australian C-130s... New Zealandlamb... The Heydari sting... French intelligence... EthiopianF-5s... Smuggling around the world...

Chapter 7.Operation Staunch

Everyone's doing it... The Fairbanks missions... Spain and Portugal... Swiss radars for Kharg... The EEC: money talks...Belgium closes its eyes... Swedish scandals... An InternationalCartel... Friends, allies, and troublemakers in Asia... Pakistan andIndia: supplying both sides... South American hopefuls... EvenFrance...450,000 shells from Luchaire... Britain's 'non-lethal'tanks... The lessons of Operation Staunch...

Chapter 8:Sweden's Lost Innocence

A Mysterious death... The Singapore connection... A long historyof suspicion... A dangerous customer... Iranian revenge?... Palme'ssecret diplomacy... The sacred principle...

CHAPTER 9:Iran's New Soviet Arsenal

Triangular relationships... The Asian Screen... Chinese fighters... Arab 'traitors,' Libya and Syria... Soviet listeningbases...

PART III. Irangate: ONE INITIATIVE, MANYNETWORKS

 

CHAPTER 10. Take one: the tanks that weren't

Orlando revisited... In the Pamir Mountains... The JINSA connection... European Defense Associates...'I'm the fixer'... Onthe Golan Heights... The Bread and Sugar Bank... GrandioseSchemes... A Greek shipping baron... Ghorbanifar, and theAyatollah's son...Iranian terror....

CHAPTER 11. Take two: the Damavand Project

More than $1 billion... A political opening... Early efforts... ASouth American sojourn... The private policy... Diplomaticconcessions... In the Hotel Metropole... Universal Aerospace Corp...Soviet overflights and "strategic defense"... 'Under Review by VicePresident Bush'... A Soviet T-80 in exchange...The Purge

CHAPTER 12. Take three: Israel all the way"

Mystery Planes... Schultz was wary... Ariel Sharon thumbs hisnose... Irangate begins in 1981... 350 Technicians... Sales fromsurplus... Opening the arms pipeline... Iranian denials... Fanningthe flames... Deniable dealers... Yaacov Nimrodi... EnterGhorbanifar... The Mossad years... The Initiative takes form

CHAPTER 13. Take four: The NSC Decides to Act

Terror in Beirut... The Iranian sponsor... The Fuller memo... ACovert Operator... Privatizing the CIA... The Network... TheGenerals replace the Colonels... "Khomeini steps Down"... The Policymisfires...

Part IV: GUNS AND GEOPOLITICS

 

Chapter 14. France and Israel: Staying Alive

French policy goals... The arms industry, a strategic value...The Iranian gambit... A 'new country without debts'... Israel:keeping an army supplied... The export economy... China: counteringSoviet influence in the Gulf...

Chapter 15. Soviet Strategy: Playing Both Sides

The strategic importance of Iran... Adropov, the KGB, and theTudeh Party... 'They're not mullahs, they're Marxists'... The caseof Abu Sharif... Controlling the Revolution... EliminatingBeheshti... Aid, commercial treaties, and listening bases... Hidingthe traces... Blowing hot and cold across the Shatt-al-Arab... Whythe Soviets want the war to go on....

Chapter 16. US Counter-strategy: Making the best of a bad world

Ronald Reagan in search of a policy... US assets inside Iran...Regional goals... CENTCOM... The arms gambit... 'The post-Khomeiniera has already begun!'... The Mujahidin Khalq... Bani Sadr... Otherleftist movements... The Center-Right Coalition... The power struggle inside Iran... The future of Iran...

CONCLUSION