Iran Seized Missiles, Aide Says

BEIJING — Deputy Iranian foreign minister Ali Mohammed Besharati said Friday that Iran seized its Chinese-made Silkworm missiles from Iraq in battle last year and didn’t buy them from China.

China has repeatedly denied selling Iran the Silkworms, which Iran reportedly has stationed along the southern entry to the Persian Gulf. Deployment of the surface-to-surface missiles, seen as threat to shipping, became a major issue in the gulf crisis and the buildup of U.S. naval forces there.

“It is not our concern at this time as to where the Iraqis received these missiles,” Besharati told a news conference at the Iranian Embassy here. “We have Chinese-made missiles available at our disposal, but we have not received them from China. We captured them from the Iraqis.”

Besharati arrived Thursday for talks with Chinese leaders.

He said Iran captured the missiles during a push into southern Iraq. The two neighbors have fought along their 730-mile border for seven years.

Besharati said that the simultaneous visit to Beijing of the president of Iraq’s National Assembly, Saadoun Hammadi, was a coincidence and that he does not believe the Chinese hoped to initiate informal peace talks between the two sides.

Hammadi also arrived Thursday and was expected to seek Chinese support for an arms embargo against Iran.