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The first the world learned of the unraveling scheme was just before Jacobsen's release, when Al Shiraa (The Sailboat Mast), a weekly magazine published in Muslim West Beirut, ran a sensational article reporting that the U.S. had been sending spare parts and ammunition for jet fighters to Iran. The magazine further said that McFarlane and four companions had visited Tehran in early September, stayed at the Independence (formerly Hilton) Hotel and met with a variety of officials from the Iranian Foreign Ministry, parliament and army, who supposedly asked for more military equipment. Shortly after the visit, said Al Shiraa, the U.S. airlifted the arms to Iran in four C-130 cargo planes flying out of a base in the Philippines. No independent evidence of any such flight has come to light, but the rest of the story contains elements of truth.
Where did the magazine get its information? The publication is known to have close ties to Syria. That country and Iran are formally allies, but their relationship has come under increasing strain. One reason is their rivalry for influence over Islamic Jihad and Hizballah, which Iran is clearly winning. The assumption in the Middle East as well as in the U.S. is that the Syrians somehow got wind of both the U.S.-arranged arms shipments to Iran and McFarlane's mission. They may have leaked the story in order to torpedo the potential relationship between the U.S. and moderate elements in the Iranian government, with a view to enhancing Syria's influence in the power struggle in Tehran. Syria may have also been piqued over losing a role in hostage bargaining, which gave it a useful gambit in countering adverse publicity about Syrian links to terrorism.
In any case, the secret was out. Rafsanjani was evidently alarmed enough to take strong action to counter Al Shiraa's story and perhaps to cover up his own dealings with the Great Satan. In a speech to the Iranian parliament last Tuesday, Rafsanjani confirmed McFarlane's visit but added some wildly improbable embellishments. According to Rafsanjani, McFarlane and four unnamed American companions arrived in Tehran with Irish passports and posing as the flight crew of a plane carrying military equipment that Iran had purchased from international arms dealers. They brought with them, said Rafsanjani, gifts of a Bible autographed by President Reagan, a cake shaped like a key intended to symbolize an opening to better relations between the U.S. and Iran, and an unspecified number of Colt pistols to be distributed to Iranian officials. Rafsanjani insisted that he ordered the Americans kept under virtual house arrest in their hotel rooms, refused to let them see anyone and expelled them from Iran after five days. They were furious, Rafsanjani reported. He quoted McFarlane as saying, "You are nuts. We have come to solve your problems, but this is how you treat us. If I went to Russia to buy furs, Gorbachev would come to see me three times a day."