Iran Reported Buying, Stockpiling Sophisticated Arms at a Brisk Rate

Iran is stockpiling sophisticated arms at a brisk rate as international support mounts for an arms embargo and a negotiated end to the seven-year-old Persian Gulf War, according to diplomatic sources and arms dealers in Europe.

European analysts, Iranian arms dealers and Iranian government arms procurement documents indicate that Iran has ordered arms and technology worth billions of dollars in the last eight months to press its bitter war with neighboring Iraq.

Iran has increased its purchases of weapons on the open market, reducing its reliance on countries wishing to avoid international censure for selling arms to the Tehran regime, they said.

The shift to higher-technology, open-market arms indicates that Iran intends to negotiate from a position of strength and seeks to avoid being caught without munitions in the case of an arms embargo, they said.

Among the arms newly purchased by Iran are Taiwanese pilotless planes, which could be used to attack Western ships in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and Italian anti-ship mines, according to one arms dealer and Iranian government documents obtained by sources in Europe.