Iranian Arms Being Shipped to Nicaragua

A shipment of Iranian arms and ammunition has arrived at the North Korean port of Hungnam and is awaiting delivery to Nicaragua, U.S. officials said today.

The shipment is reported to contain more than 9,000 Soviet-made AK-47 rifles, “several million rounds of ammunition,” rocket-propelled grenades and land mines, the officials said.

According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, much of the weaponry is believed to have been captured by Iran in its war with Iraq.

The Iranian-Nicaraguan transaction is thought to have been worked out during a January visit to Managua by Iranian Prime Minister Mir Hussein Musabi. At the time, Musabi denied that his government had agreed to supply military supplies to Nicaragua.

Nicaragua has relied for the most part on the Soviet Bloc for its military equipment. Although not a member of that alliance, Iran has some of the same foreign policy objectives as Moscow.

Military Relationship

North Korea has had a military relationship with Nicaragua for some time. U.S. intelligence sources learned several months ago that Nicaraguan army recruits have been receiving training in hand-to-hand combat from North Korean experts in Nicaragua.

The U.S. officials offered several possible reasons for Iran’s apparent decision to use North Korea as a conduit for the shipments.

They said the Iranians may have wanted to conceal the origin of the equipment by sending it through North Korea. In addition, shipping via the Pacific Ocean would permit use of the Nicaraguan port of Corinto, which is better equipped to handle large deliveries than Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast ports.