Iran Apparently Arming Bosnia, U.S. Official Says : Balkans: State Department denies looking other way at sanctions-busting shipments to Muslim government.

Iran is believed to be sending a large supply of weapons and munitions to the beleaguered Bosnian government in contravention of a U.N. embargo, a U.S. official said Friday.

The supplies are part of a growing flow of weapons that has allowed the Muslim-led Bosnian government to move toward military parity with Bosnian Serb rebels, the official said.

The buildup could help government forces in fighting that is expected to pick up sharply with the spring thaw.

The Washington Post on Friday quoted U.S. officials as saying that Iran had delivered “hundreds of tons” of weaponry.

The Clinton Administration has strongly opposed Iranian attempts to supply arms to Islamic terrorists and resistance movements around the world.

But President Clinton has said repeatedly that the Bosnian Muslims have a right to defend themselves, and there are no signs that the United States has tried to halt any breach of the embargo.

White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said there is abundant circumstantial evidence that the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina is gaining new access to small arms and ammunition.

But McCurry stopped short of acknowledging Tehran’s involvement, saying only that “it would not be surprising if it was discovered that (the weaponry) had come from Iran.”

Still, State Department officials insisted that, despite U.S. sympathies for the Bosnian government, Washington is not looking the other way when it comes to Iranian arms exports.

“We do not endorse violations of U.N. resolutions whatsoever,” State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said. “We are not violating those resolutions. And we don’t endorse anyone else who’s violating them.”

Officials noted that a 1994 law prohibits the United States from interfering with any country’s arming of the Bosnian government, despite the U.N. embargo.