Herein we describe the dearomatization of aryl iodanes through an unprecedented "rearrangement/addition" sequence. The process consists of two stages. First, a rapid [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangement of the aryl iodane with an α-stannyl nitrile affords a highly electrophilic dearomatized intermediate at -78 °C. A low-temperature rearrangement then enables the unstable dearomatized species to be trapped