The Region - News from Nov. 9, 1986

Defense attorneys for seven San Diego men scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 24 for shipping $7 million worth of stolen military hardware to Iran say they will ask the court for lighter sentences because of recent disclosures that the U.S. government has been sending secret arms shipments to Iran. Federal prosecutors have argued that the arms sale represented a serious breach of national security because the arms were going to a hostile power. However, sources in Washington said last week that for the last 18 months, the Reagan Administration has secretly sent arms to Iran to secure release of U.S. hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. A Justice Department spokesman said that U.S. prosecutors are reviewing pending cases of all people charged with shipping arms to Iran in light of those reported covert government shipments.