Missiles Sold Iraq Couldn’t Reach Tehran, Soviets Say

The Soviet Union said Wednesday that missiles it sold to Iraq, under a longstanding arms supply agreement, did not have the range to reach Tehran, the Iranian capital.

Both Tehran and Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, are being rocked by daily missile attacks in the so-called war of the cities, but Soviet officials, at pains to maintain recently improved relations with Tehran, claim that the missiles were sold under a specific agreement that they not be modified to extend their range.

“Previously, we delivered to Iraq a shipment of short-range missiles, but they could not be capable of reaching Tehran,” Vsevolod L. Oleandrov, a ranking Foreign Ministry official, told a news conference. “No upgrading or modernization of these missiles was permitted under the agreement.”

“This means we have nothing to do with the ‘war of the cities,’ ” said Gennady I. Gerasimov, the Foreign Ministry spokesman. “We never gave permission to extend their range.”

The officials declined to say flatly that Iraq had modified the missiles, although their comments seemed to imply that. The Iraqis claim that the missiles are of their own manufacture. The Iranians have charged that the weapons are modified versions of the Soviet-made Scud-B missile.

The weapons were supplied, Oleandrov said, under a military cooperation pact between Moscow and Baghdad. The Soviet Union has been known to be Baghdad’s main arms supplier for some time, but the officials declined to say when the weapons were shipped to Iraq or if shipments are still continuing.

“We fulfill our obligations,” Oleandrov said. He added that “there are no measures which can ensure that missiles are delivered against military targets.”

Bloodiest of War

The recent attacks against population centers in both countries are said to be the bloodiest of the war, which began in 1980.

The Soviet Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Esfahan were attacked by stone-throwing Iranian demonstrators last week, apparently in response to charges in the Iranian media that the Soviets had supplied the missiles that were striking at Iranian cities.

The demonstration brought a sharp protest from the Soviets, who said the lives of diplomatic personnel and their families were endangered in the attacks.

In Iran, Prime Minister Hussein Moussavi welcomed a Soviet proposal for a U.N. Security Council meeting to halt the air and missile attacks, describing it as “positive.” The remark appeared to tone down Tehran’s recent strident criticism of Moscow.

The Soviet also proposed the appointment of a special U.N. representative to ensure “firm and constant contact” between the two warring neighbors and the United Nations.

The Soviets have been working over the last year to build a better relationship with Iran, in an effort to ensure Iranian cooperation in the aftermath of a Soviet troop withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan, proposed for this spring.