U.S. Bars Sale of Furnaces to Iraq, Citing Arms Use

The Bush Administration on Friday blocked the sale to Iraq of three advanced industrial furnaces that officials fear could be used to forge components of ballistic missiles.

Administration officials said the Commerce Department banned the shipment, which it had tentatively approved earlier, after a group of Republican senators and Defense Department officials protested it.

The Iraqi government insists that the furnaces would be used only to produce lightweight metals for artificial limbs for war veterans. But State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said the Administration was concerned that the equipment would be used in Iraq’s growing arms industry.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has issued a series of belligerent statements in recent months, threatening to “burn half of Israel” with chemical weapons and, more recently, hinting of military action against Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in a growing dispute over oil production.

Iraq already possesses Soviet-built Scud missiles, which it used to attack Iranian cities during the Persian Gulf war. But the Scuds are too inaccurate for many military applications. Iraq also has an large arsenal of chemical weapons and used some of them in the war with Iran.

However, U.S. experts believe Hussein’s regime is developing nuclear weapons and a generation of domestically produced missiles to deliver them.

Iraq agreed last year to purchase the furnaces from Consarc Corp. in Rancocas, N.J. At the time, the Commerce Department determined that the transaction did not violate restrictions on the sale of advanced military technology.