Iran Official Denies China Has Become His Nation’s Main Source of War Material

Iran’s oil minister Friday denied reports that China has become his country’s main arms supplier in the six-year-old Iran-Iraq War.

The official, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, also said Chinese officials have agreed to lower their oil exports to support efforts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase oil prices.

“We deny any sale of arms to Iran from China,” Aghazadeh told a news conference.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has refused to comment on the allegations. Earlier this week, the official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted an unidentified Chinese diplomat in London as saying the allegations were “complete fabrications.”

Superiority in Planes

In Washington, a U.S. government official speaking on condition of anonymity has confirmed a report in the Washington Post earlier this week that China has become Iran’s principal arms supplier, helping it to overcome Iraq’s overwhelming edge in warplanes.

When Iraq invaded Iran in September, 1980, Iran had a massive edge in U.S.-supplied fighter planes and other weapons, the legacy of U.S. aid that preceded the 1979 fall of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. The U.S. official said Iran is now down to about 60 airworthy planes while Iraq, which is supported by several Arab countries, has about 500 planes.

The Post said the Iranians are receiving Chinese arms worth at least $300 million, including missiles, with tanks and a Chinese version of the Soviet MIG-21 aircraft to be supplied later.

Narrowing the Gap

U.S. officials said they could not confirm the delivery of warplanes by Peking, but they said Chinese artillery, bridge-building equipment and helicopters had served to narrow the gap between the Persian Gulf war foes.

Aghazadeh would not say where Iran gets its weapons, but he said it has no trouble finding suppliers.

“The biggest supplier of our arms is Iraq,” said the official, referring to weapons captured from the enemy.

Aghazadeh said he did not discuss the subject of arms with Chinese officials.

On the subject of oil exports, Aghazadeh said that Chinese officials are studying how much to reduce their exports and that the amount will be announced soon. “We have come to a very positive result,” he said.

No Current Figures

Figures on China’s current oil exports were not available.

Vice Premier Wan Li told Aghazadeh that China cut its crude oil exports in the first half of this year, the official New China News Agency reported.

Chinese officials have said overall oil production increased to 439.46 million barrels in the first six months of this year, up 2.2% from the same period last year.

Aghazadeh said he is traveling to non-OPEC oil-producing countries to try to persuade them to support an OPEC decision to voluntarily reduce production.

Iran could produce between 3.5 million and 4 million barrels of crude oil a day but is limiting itself to 2.3 million barrels a day, the official said.