[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 23, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E717]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E717]]
          LET'S APPLY THE GORE-McCAIN ACT TO RUSSIA AND CHINA

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                        HON. GERALD B.H. SOLOMON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 23, 1997

  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert for the record an 
article by Bill Gertz of the Washington Times which reveals Russian 
efforts to sell missiles to the rogue nation of Iran. This follows on 
the heels of a previous Russian deal to supply Iran with nuclear 
reactor technology, as well as recent Communist Chinese sales of anti-
ship missiles and other weaponry to Tehran.
  The Clinton administration's nonresponse to these developments is 
astonishing, especially in light of the fact that while a Senator, 
Vice-President Gore authored the 1992 Iran-Iraq Non-Proliferation Act, 
otherwise known as the Gore-McCain Act. The law requires sanctions 
against nations which knowingly supply Iran or Iraq with advanced 
conventional weaponry or technology that could contribute to their 
acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.
  Mr. Speaker, nothing could be clearer than the applicability of this 
law to Russia's and China's arming of Iran. We should apply the law, 
now.

               [From the Washington Times, Apr. 23, 1997]

                     Russia Sells Missiles to Iran


                     terrorists to get latest arms

                            (By Bill Gertz)

       Russia is selling advanced air-defense systems to Iran, 
     including the latest version of a hand-held anti-aircraft 
     missile that Tehran intends to provide to Hezbollah 
     terrorists, The Washington Times has learned.
       Such transactions would violate a pledge Russian President 
     Boris Yeltsin made during the 1994 summit with President 
     Clinton to block all new conventional arms sales to Iran.
       The missile sales talks took place in February and last 
     month between Iranian intelligence agents and Russian arms 
     brokers in Moscow, who offered S-300 series anti-aircraft 
     missiles for sale at discount prices, Pentagon intelligence 
     officials said.
       The talks included the proposed sale by Moscow arms dealers 
     of up to 500 advanced ``Igla'' anti-aircraft missiles worth 
     more than $50,000 each, according to U.S. intelligence 
     information. The officials identified the missiles as SA-18s.
       Other arms deals involve proposed sales of T-72 tanks and 
     Mi-17 helicopters. They are said to include one of Russia's 
     intelligence services. The deals are being made outside the 
     official Russian government arms sales agency.
       The Pentagon officials said Iran's Ministry of Defense and 
     Armed Forces Logistics is involved in buying the shoulder-
     fired Iglas, and plans to supply some of them to Hezbollah, 
     the pro-Iranian group based in Lebanon that has been blamed 
     for many international terrorist attacks.
       The officials said a scientific and technical arm of the 
     Iranian intelligence service that acquires foreign technology 
     for Iran's weapons programs is involved in some of the 
     weapons purchases. This indicates the weapons may be used by 
     Tehran as models for local production.
       It could not be learned whether the U.S. government has 
     tried to halt the missile sales.
       Vincent Cannistraro, a former CIA counterterrorism 
     official, said the Iglas would give Hezbollah more effective 
     capabilities for attacking Israeli helicopters and jets over 
     southern Lebanon.
       ``It vastly increases the risk and danger to Israeli 
     aircraft, and because they are transportable, they could be 
     smuggled into Israel,'' he said.
       Hezbollah also could use the Iglas for attacks on civilian 
     airliners, although less-capable shoulder-fired missiles 
     already are in the hands of terrorists, Mr. Cannistraro said.
       There are few reported cases of civil aircraft being shot 
     down by shoulder-fired missiles.
       Most Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon 
     involve helicopter gunships, troop transports or U.S.-made 
     warplanes.
       The Pentagon officials said two S-300 systems with 96 
     missiles that were manufactured near Moscow this year are 
     being offered to Iran for $180 million--$20 million less than 
     the price charged by Russia's state arms exporter, 
     Rosvooruzheniye.
       The systems are either advanced SA-10s or the newer SA-12, 
     both part of the S-300 series--weapons that are very 
     effective against warplanes and have some capabilities for 
     shooting down short-range missiles.
       The S-300s would be delivered in two shipments within a 
     year of signing a contract, the officials said.
       The February talks between Iranian officials and Russian 
     arms brokers involved the sale of three older SA-10 systems 
     and 36 missiles worth about $90 million.
       That deal, for SA-10s from components in Russia, Croatia 
     and Kazakhstan, fell through but is now being brokered by a 
     colonel in the Kazakh army, the Pentagon officials said.
       The SAMs would vastly improve Iran's air defenses, which 
     now include U.S.-made Hawks and older Russian and Chinese SA-
     2 and SA-5 systems.
       Iran is in the process of building up a nationwide air 
     defense system and recently purchased several advanced air 
     defense radars from China capable of tracking up to 100 
     targets simultaneously.
       According to the publication ``Russia's Arms Catalogue,'' 
     produced by the Russian Defense Ministry, the advanced S-300 
     has a range of three to 92 miles; the Igla has a range of 30 
     feet to about 10,500 feet.
       Iranian intelligence agents also are trying to buy tanks 
     and helicopters from unofficial Russian arms brokers. The 
     Pentagon officials said the tanks probably are T-72s and the 
     helicopters are Mi-17 transports.
       Disclosure of the secret Iran-Russia arms deals comes as 
     Iranian government officials are visiting Russia.
       Mr. Yeltsin met Friday in Moscow with Iranian parliamentary 
     speaker Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri and said cooperation between 
     the two countries was ``good, positive and with a tendency 
     toward growth.''
       The speaker, a possible presidential candidate in upcoming 
     elections, signed several industrial, cultural and scientific 
     agreements, including a pact to coproduce Tupulev jetliners.
       Russia is Iran's largest arms supplier and has sold three 
     Kilo-class submarines, several squadrons of MiG-29 fighter-
     bombers and related missiles.
       Russian officials say Iranian military contracts with 
     Rosvooruzheniye are worth about $1 billion a year; they noted 
     that in 1995 Moscow and Tehran signed an $800 million deal 
     for nuclear reactors to be built in Iran.
       The United States has tried in vain to stop Moscow from 
     selling the reactors.
       In February, Vice President Al Gore complained to Russian 
     officials about the country's transfer of SS-4 medium-range 
     missile technology to Iran. Russian Prime Minister Victor 
     Chernomydrin reportedly denied any SS-4 technology had been 
     sold to Iran, because it would have violated Mr. Yeltsin's 
     pledge not to conclude new arms deals with Tehran.

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