WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Pentagon officials met secretly with a discredited Iranian arms dealer more than a year ago but nothing came of the meeting.
That confirmation came from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, The Washington Post reported Saturday. The meeting was with Manucher Ghorbanifar, who figured prominently in the 1980s Iran-contra scandal.
The Post said Rumsfeld characterized the contact as an unexceptional effort to gain information. But other reports suggested Rumsfeld's account may be incomplete.
A senior defense official disclosed Friday there was another meeting with Ghorbanifar in June in Paris.
The official said the first contact had been formally sanctioned by the U.S. government in response to an Iranian government offer to provide information relevant to the war on terrorism. But the second was unplanned, the Post said.
The sessions so troubled Secretary of State Colin Powell he complained to Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. The Pentagon's contact with Ghorbanifar was first reported by Newsday.
