GOP senators charge U.S. security harmed by Russian aid to Iran
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, November 2, 2000
WASHINGTON — Congressional critics said the Clinton administration
has allowed a Russian effort to rearm Iran that threatens the U.S. presence
in the Gulf.
Leading Republican senators said in the mid-1990s Russia supplied to
Iran more than 300 T-72S tanks, MiG-29 fighters, attack jets, attack
helicopters. Other weapons include 1,000 sea mines and torpedoes
and perhaps shoulder-fighter Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.
"This is from open newspaper sources," Senator Sam Brownback said.
"There's probably more."
Brownback said the United States might face these weapons in any
confrontation with Iran amid the current tension in the Middle East. Iran
has encouraged attacks against Israel and has supported Islamic militants
who have also targeted the United States.
"Are we going to face this weaponry now, or are some of our allies or
some of the commercial
shipping now going to face this weaponry that's flowing from Russia to
Iran?" Brownback asked.
The senators said the Clinton administration has refused to provide the
text of a 1995 agreement between Vice President Al Gore and then-Russian
Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin that allowed Moscow's transfer of
weaponry to Iran. They said the administration was not forthcoming even
during a closed-hearing last week.
The senators have issued a subpoena for the administration letter to
Chernomyrdin. On Monday, the senators rejected an administration offer to
let them see but not keep a copy of the agreement.
"We were quite prepared to provide them access at their convenience and
to make sure that they had an adequate chance to examine the documents,"
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Tuesday. "We were
prepared to make arrangements to have officials bring the documents up to
them at their convenience for their personal review, but the documents would
remain at all times in the custody of the department."
Brownback said Russia violated its 1995 agreement not to sign any new
arms deals with Iran. He said that in 1998 Moscow and Teheran signed a $200
million weapons deal. This despite a Russian commitment to end arms
deliveries to Iran by the end of 1999.
Senator Gordon Smith, another member of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, said Gore does not want to be embarrassed by the document days
before the U.S. presidential election. Smith said Gore viewed the agreement
as a major foreign policy achievement despite being in violation of a 1992
law that prevents Iran from obtaining weapons.
"The vice president is so vested in this, and was so anxious to see that
it succeed, that frankly they did not want any white noise out there to
distract from it," Smith said. The premise of the Gore-Chernomyrdin
agreements, that this would stop in 1999 with respect to Iran, it has not.
So at the end of the day, I think the vice president got sucker-punched."
On Tuesday, Iranian and Russian officials discussed export controls and
defense issues in talks in Moscow. The two countries have established a
working group on export control.
Thursday, November 2, 2000
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