Sarkis Soghanalian

Sarkis Garabed Soghanalian (; February 6, 1929 – October 5, 2011), nicknamed the Merchant of Death, was a Syrian-Lebanese-Armenian international private arms dealer who gained fame for being the "Cold War's largest arms merchant" and the lead seller of firearms and weaponry to the former government of Iraq under Saddam Hussein during the 1980s.

Soghanalian was contracted by the Central Intelligence Agency to sell arms to help Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War. With the encouragement of the Reagan Administration and the backing of American intelligence agencies, he oversaw the transaction of several significant arms deals. Aside from Iraq, he also sold weapons to groups in Mauritania, Lebanon, and Latin America. He was given an early release when he helped the Clinton administration to attempt break up of a counterfeiting ring in Lebanon. In 2001 he was arrested once more by the US government on bank fraud charges, but was released a year later after revelations of further weapons transactions deals between the CIA and Peru. With the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War in 1980, he began to sell weapons to Iraq with the blessing of the United States. Since there was an arms embargo placed against Iraq, the weapons were funneled through various countries. His most significant deal came when he procured French 155mm self-propelled howitzers (valued at an estimated $1.4 billion).

Iraqi leaders had initially approached the Reagan administration to purchase American 175mm artillery, but had been turned down. They were, however, encouraged by American officials to procure the weapons through private arms dealers. Soghanalian helped sell to the Iraqi army military uniforms worth $280,000,000 from Romania. Soghanalian had been able to purchase the rifles for $55 apiece in addition to a $20 transportation, and "shipping and handling" fee. Several months later, it was revealed that the CIA had backed the deal to arm Peruvian intelligence head Vladimiro Montesinos. For his efforts, President George H. W. Bush described him as an individual who "strengthened the ties that unite mankind," while Mother Teresa wrote him a letter, stating that God would reward him and his family's efforts a "hundredfold."

Personal life and death Soghanalian was fluent in English, Armenian, Arabic, French and Turkish and “could make himself understood” in Spanish and Italian. He had two children.

Soghanalian died on October 5, 2011, at the Hialeah Hospital in Hialeah, Florida.