16 September 2003 14:10
US imposes sanctions on Russian company over weapons supplies to Iran
The State Department has imposed economic sanctions on a Russian government-owned company for selling advanced weapons to Iran, a country designated as a state sponsor of international terrorism.
The company, Tula KBP, makes a range of advanced weapons including air-defence missiles, antitank weapons and precision-guided munitions. It also manufactures the Krasnopol-M laser-guided artillery shell.
The Bush administration earlier this year accused Tula KBP of covertly selling thousands of Kornet antitank missiles to Saddam Hussein's regime. As part of the sanctions, the administration waived provisions of U.S. law that would have blocked all U.S. aid to Russia, noting that assistance is "important to the national interests of the United States".
U.S. law prohibits providing any assistance to nations that sell lethal military goods to terrorist sponsors. The law also allows the ban to be waived. It was the first time the State Department identified the recipient of such illegal arms transfers. In the past only the seller has been made public.
The sanctions are not expected to financially harm Tula KBP. The company will be barred from doing business with the U.S. government and will be prohibited from obtaining export licences to buy U.S. defence goods. The sanctions will be in place for one year from Aug. 25, 2003, when the weapons transfer to Iran was judged to be a violation of U.S. law.
The U.S. government protested Moscow's support for Saddam in April after Tula KBP's Kornet antitank missiles were found to have been shipped to Iraq. Moscow also supplied Saddam's regime with electronic jammers and night-vision goggles. Iraq under Saddam is believed to have obtained some 1,000 Kornets that were smuggled in from Syria.
The missile is considered a threat to U.S. tanks because it has a greater range than the cannons of U.S. tanks and has an armour-penetrating warhead. It also can be outfitted with a thermobaric warhead that creates a large fireball to increase lethality.
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