One account claims Cave served the CIA in Teheran during the 1953 Iranian coup d'état that restored the Shah of Iran to power but he has since indicated he did not join the agency until October 1956.

[9] In March 1986, at the behest of CIA Director William J. Casey, Cave joined the unofficial, but presidentially approved, covert operation to provide American-made missiles to the Islamic Republic of Iran that constituted part of the Iran-Contra affair.

The weapons sales were part of a deal that was supposed to include the release of several American citizens being held hostage in Lebanon by Hezbollah, a close ally of Iran.

He had been brought in at the CIA director's insistence, had not been aware of all of the plans or tactics of the main actors (such as manipulating weapons pricing), and had objected to the involvement of Iranian arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar.

[14] In his final interview Duane Clarridge, former CIA operations officer and Iran-Contra figure, hinted that this novel was a largely accurate depiction of how Reagan's October Surprise transpired.