Iran Reportedly Seeking Arms From Belarus

Less than a month after Moscow bowed to U.S. pressure and pledged to end conventional arms deliveries to Iran, Belarus is negotiating weapons sales to the Islamic republic, Western diplomats in Minsk confirmed Wednesday.

Belarussian officials denied any arms sale, and the State Department said it was aware of rumors of the sale but could not confirm them. One U.S. official said the rumors appeared to be false.

But the diplomats, as well as Russian, Belarussian and Western press reports, say Belarus is discussing sales of weapons and spare parts to Iran, despite a U.S. effort to persuade its allies to join its campaign to limit arms sales to Tehran.

Ukraine, which also has key factories from the former Soviet military complex, also reportedly has been talking to Iran about possible weapons sales.

The United States has been particularly concerned about preventing the sale of nuclear technology and missile systems to Iran but has also been trying to curtail sales of conventional military hardware.

Last month, after an intense lobbying effort by Vice President Al Gore, Moscow agreed to stop delivering air-to-ground missiles to Iran and to bring a quick end to its existing contracts to supply weapons to Iran.

Apparently seeking an alternative supplier, Iranian First Vice President Hassan Habibi traveled to Minsk last week and announced Friday that Iran “will buy conventional defensive weapons and hold consultations on some technological processes” with Belarus.

“These types of weapons are strictly for defense and will not produce any imbalance in the world,” Habibi said.

Nevertheless, in telephone interviews, Belarussian officials denied that a weapons deal had been struck. “The agreement in question concentrated on purely economic and solely civilian issues,” said Igor A. Leshchenya, chief of the Africa and Asia department of the Belarus Foreign Ministry.

A spokesman for President Alexander G. Lukashenko called press accounts of the deal “absolutely incorrect.”

But numerous local press reports said a protocol on arms sales and military cooperation between Belarus and Iran was signed after Habibi’s meeting with Belarussian Prime Minister Mikhail Chigir.

Western diplomats in Minsk said they had been assured by a Belarussian Foreign Ministry official that no discussion about sales of mobile rocket systems had taken place, “but they are considering other kinds of weapons sales.”

The United States is providing Belarus with at least $141 million in aid in 1995, including more than $100 million to help dismantle the 81 nuclear weapons left after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

This month, Lukashenko abruptly announced he was halting the withdrawal of nuclear missiles from Belarus. Of the 81 missiles, 63 have already been withdrawn, but 18 missile launchers that were scheduled to be shipped to a new base in Russia will stay, the president said.

Paul Goble, a former U.S. diplomat now at the Jamestown Foundation, a think tank in Washington, said the arms deal “is certainly happening.” Goble said many arms trading firms in Belarussian territory are owned by Russians.

“This is essentially a Russian arms deal rather than a Belarussian arms deal, but for a variety of reasons the Russians are happy to let the Belarussians take the heat,” Goble said.

But the arms sale appears to be contingent on the Iranians coming up with either hard currency or a way to transport their oil to Belarus to pay for their purchases.

Times staff writer Norman Kempster in Washington contributed to this report.