Iran Claims Access To Us Missiles

Sydney Morning Herald

Sunday October 11, 1987

Source: Reuter

NICOSIA, Sunday: Iran says it has obtained US Stinger missiles and is making copies of the portable anti-aircraft weapons which its forces fired at American helicopters in the Gulf last week.

Yesterday, Pentagon officials in Washington issued a statement saying Iran might have in its arsenal the US Army's most potent portable anti-aircraft missile.

The Defence Secretary, Mr Weinberger, dropped a hint of the new threat when he said yesterday that two small Iranian boats captured after a battle on Thursday contained equipment believed to be associated with the US Stinger system.

The Pentagon later said the equipment consisted of batteries and packing material, but no missiles were found.

The report by the Iranian news agency IRNA yesterday raised speculation about how Tehran acquired the infra-red guided missiles. They have a range of eight kilometres and are designed to attack helicopters and low-flying aircraft.

IRNA quoted the commander of the country's Revolutionary Guards as saying that the surface-to-air missiles were obtained a long time ago.

British newspapers said Tehran was believed to have bought up to 20 Stingers for $A1.38 million from Afghan guerillas who received them covertly through Pakistani authorities and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for use against the Soviet-backed Kabul Government.

Afghanistan's Foreign Minister, Mr Abdul Wakil, told the United Nations last month the US had stepped up the flow of Stinger missiles to the rebels from 60 last year to 600 this year.

IRNA said Iranian forces in patrol boats had fired Stingers at US helicopter gunships in the Gulf on Thursday and shot one of them down. The Americans have denied that.

The agency said Mohsen Rezazi, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, told a news conference yesterday Iran was making copies of the 16-kilogram, shoulder-fired weapon.

Alarm has been mounting in the US Congress about the possibility of American weapons falling into the wrong hands. Senator Dennis DeConcini of the Senate Intelligence Committee told The Washington Post: "Now one of our worst enemies may have one of our best weapons in one of the most volatile regions of the world."

Iran said its Revolutionary Guards Corps fired a surface-to-surface missile into Baghdad early today.

The Iranian news agency IRNA said the missile struck the al-Rashid garrison, which it described as an important military centre in the Iraqi capital.