IRAN, IN 6-YEAR SEARCH FOR ARMS, FINDS WORLD OF WILLING SUPPLIERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000705970008-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: November 25, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000705970008-9
APITICLtt1 D r
W YORK TIMES
ON PAGE NE
25 November 1986
Iran, in 6-Year Search for Arms,
Finds World of WillingSuppliers
1 By ELAINE SCIOLINO
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 - During its
six-year war with Iraq, Iran has bought
more than $9 billion in arms from
America's allies and enemies alike, ac-
cording to a high-ranking Reagan Ad-
ministration official.
Other officials and independent arms
analysts say that while North Korea ;
and China are Iran's most important
arms suppliers, Western countries pro-
vide about 20 percent of the Teheran
Government's purchases.
U.S. 'Opened the Floodgates'
These sources contend that recent
disclosures of American arms ship-
ments to Iran through Israel will make
it impossible for the Administration to
stem the flow of arms to Iran by allies
of the United States.
"We seem to have opened the flood-
gates for our allies to sell arms to
Iran," an Administration official said.
"I have the sense countries will be
rushing to Teheran to make offers and
clinch deals."
Late last month, for example, an Ira-
nian negotiating team went to Britain
apparently to get parts for Chieftain
tanks and Scorpion armored cars, ac-
cording to American and British offi-
cials. They said the parts were pro-
vided for in contracts concluded under
the Shah's reign with International
Military Sales, an arms company
owned by the British Defense Ministry.
Land-Rover Deal Discussed
Last week, Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher told Parliament that "a very
small quantity" of what she called non-
lethal equipment had been delivered to
Iran as a result of these talks, without
specifying what had been shipped.
British officials also confirmed last)
week that they were negotiating a $37.8'
million deal to send 3,000 Land-Rovers
to Iran. The vehicles presumably could
be converted for military use.e House
In a hearing today before
th
Foreign Affairs Committee, Assistant
Secretary of State Richard W. Murphy
said that North Korea was Iran's pri-
mary arms supplier and that China,
and Eastern Europe also supplied
weapons. He said he was unable to con-
firm whether France and Portugal had
sent weapons to Iran.
Iran has shown considerable imagi-
nation in scouring the world for weap-
ons-and spare parts, from providing
foreign visitors with lists of arms it
wants to using its diplomats and exiles
abroad as arms procurers.
In the last two years, Iran's leaders,
seeking to improve the country's
image abroad and win support for its
war policy, have traveled extensively.'
Just after Hojatolislam Hashemi Raf-
sanjani, Speaker of the Iranian Parlia-
ment, negotiated a deal in Libya to se-
cure Soviet-made Scud missiles in June
1985, for example, he flew to Damascus
to help arrange the release of 39 Amer-
icans taken hostage in the hijacking of
a Trans World Airlines plane.
The Task of Tracking Arms
But the murky, often secret nature of
arms dealing makes it impossible to
determine precisely what Iran spends
on arms and where it spends it.
"The Iranians know how to play
games," said Gary G. Sick, a member
of the National Security Council in the
Carter Administration and author of a
recent book on Iran. "They've cut deals,
through private channels and with gov-
ernments that don't acknowledge
them, which makes arms tracking
very difficult."
The American-Israeli link to Iran
shows that Iran will buy from anyone.
And despite an official American arms
embargo and a worldwide campaign to
prevent allies from shipping arms,
large amounts of weapons have
reached Teheran from the United
States and its allies through govern-
ment licensees and unofficial channels.
From 1979 to 1983, the only years for
which reliable American Intel i ence
fi res are avai a e ran spent $2.8
billion on major arms
Durc ases from
L_ k
the United States the viet union,
Erance- Britain IM
China Rumania and Poland. and $2.6
hi n arms through other nations
and indirect sources. Intelligence ana-
lysts concede this is a part
An Increased Flow Is Seen
Since unannounced American negoti-
ations with Iranian factions began last
year, several Western countries are be-
lieved to have, allowed more arms and
spare parts to flow to Iran.
In the last year, Israel has become
the major supplier of modern
American-made parts to Iran, al-
though the exact size of the shipments
cannot be measured, according to inde-
pendent arms analysts.
France, one of Iraq's largest suppli-
ers, has acknowledged that French-
made antitank missiles and large
amounts of 150-millimeter ammunition
have made their way to Iran since last
year, although French officials denied
any involvement. The shipments were
so large, however, that independent)
arms experts say the French Govern-
ment must have known of them.
Some of these sources say they be-
lieve that arms constituted at least
part of the $330 million that France re-
cently gave Iran as partial repayment
of a $1 billion loan extended under the
Shah.
Portuguese state-run factories
produce large quantities of ammuni-
tion and mortar shells that have been
sold to Iran, an Administration official
said. "Despite our protests, officials
look the other way," an official said.
From time to time, the Italian au-
thorities have allowed spare parts for
Hawk missiles and for helicopters to
reach Iran, the official added. Iran has
also received transports and small
boats from Japan; tents and trucks
from India; armored cars, rocket
launchers and large amounts of hand
grenades from Brazil; artillery and
ammunition from South Africa; Fok-
ker aircraft and military electronics
equipment from the Netherlands;
Chieftain tank parts from Britain, and
F-4 and F-5 parts, overcoats and uni
forms from South Korea.
Switzerland has operated either as a
third-party broker or a direct supplier!
of parts for European-made weapons,
according to arms experts. -
"Very often people who control ex-
ports of arms are intelligence officers
who keep things from their govern-
ments," said Anthony Cordesman, a
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000705970008-9
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000705970008-9
vice president of the defense research
arm of the Eaton Corporation and an
authority on the Iran-Iraq war. "These
countries are turning a blind eye."
American officials say they believe
that North Korea alone has sent Iran
more than $1 billion in weapons, includ-
ing tanks, artillery pieces, antiaircraft
guns, mortars, rifles and other guns.
While China is believed b American
intelligence officials and arms
to ave stone a 31.6 billion arms deal
wit ran tat includes F-7 fighter
lanes artiller tanks and armored
rsonne carriers, t is unclear what,
has actually been e iver .
Arms From Libya and Syria
The same sources say Libya and
Syria, Iran's only Middle Eastern
allies, have made significant arms
shipments in the last three years, in-
cluding Soviet-made tanks, Katyusha
artillery rockets, SAM-7 missiles, anti-
aircraft guns, antitank missiles, artil-
lery shells and a small number of ar-
mored personnel carriers.
The Soviet Union, Iraq's largest
arms supplier, has increased its ship-
ments to Iran through Czechoslovakia,
which has sent chemical warfare
equipment, light arms and ammuni-
tion, and through Poland, which has
sent antiaircraft guns, rocket-
propelled grenades and parts for ar-
mored equipment and heavy weapons,
the sources say.
American-made weapons and parts
are still the most crucial component of
Iran's arms systems, arms experts
say. "With the American arms ship-
ments, the genie is out of the bottle,"
Mr. Cordesman said. "No one can tell
how many of the American systems
will now be operational or predict what
this shift of high technology will
mean."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000705970008-9