Arms Buildup Making Iran Top Gulf Power

WASHINGTON —  Through secret deals with Russia, North Korea and other countries, Iran is conducting a multibillion-dollar arms buildup that is fast making it the dominant military power in the Persian Gulf region, informed government sources said Monday.

Through the massive buildup, which includes purchases of SU-24 Soviet attack fighter-bombers and advanced MIG-29 fighter planes, as well as tanks and other arms, Iran already has achieved parity with Iraq, long the region’s mightiest military force, the sources said.

And many of the purchases reportedly have come through extraordinary Russian military equipment sales, in which the economically hard-pressed federation is selling off arms from the Red Army’s vast weapons inventory in a desperate bid for foreign currency.

“It’s a cash and carry deal at cut-rate prices, and arms bazaars are sprouting up all over the place,” said one knowledgeable source.

One Bush Administration official said: “The buildup has been across the board--conventional arms and unconventional in the areas of missiles and nuclear research. Our concern is not just what they are accumulating, but what they plan to do with it.”

The official refused to provide details on the “nuclear research.” President Bush and others have repeatedly said that existing controls over Soviet nuclear weapons remain adequate to safeguard against their unauthorized use or diversion. But some officials have expressed concern that nuclear weapons know-how could find its way into the hands of other governments as a result of political and economic upheavals there.

In Washington intelligence circles, there are rumors of multimillion-dollar T-72 tanks being sold by Russians to Iran for as little as $50,000 each. A U.S. official with knowledge of the arms bazaars said he could not confirm the price, but he reported that “they are selling armaments at greatly reduced prices.”

The aircraft purchases apparently are being made through government-to-government deals, but the official said: “There has been some leakage of tanks and smaller armaments to international arms dealers that are being sold at arms bazaars. It includes small arms and artillery and such things as armored vehicles.”

Privately, U.S. officials, as well as Iran’s Arab neighbors, view the buildup with increasing concern.

Saudi Arabian officials also find the buildup “unsettling,” said a Saudi source. But the Saudis have been somewhat reassured by the positive tone that has continued to mark diplomatic initiatives by Tehran.

The buildup has caused “grave concern” in Israel, which remains a target of Iranian terrorists. “We’re watching it closely, knowing that Iran is exporting its Islamic fundamentalism and is sponsoring terrorist activity, such as helping the Hezbollah (Party of God) in south Lebanon and encouraging terrorist acts against Israel,” said an Israeli official.

In the past, Israel has supported a stronger Iran as a counterforce to the Iraqi military machine. But with Iraq devastated by last year’s war with U.S.-led Western and Arab allies and weakened by United Nations-sponsored economic sanctions, Israel now sees a more powerful Iran as a greater menace.

“There are several destabilizing factors in the region now,” said one Israeli official here on the eve of another round of Mideast peace talks. “You don’t have to focus on just Iran or Iraq. Another is Syria, which is arming itself to the teeth while we are in the process of peace negotiations.”

Despite serious misgivings about Iran’s role in terrorism and its longtime hostility toward the West, U.S. officials point out that Iran recently has moderated its policies and was responsible for helping to free Western hostages held in Lebanon.

Also, they say, a more powerful Iran could prove to be valuable force in the U.S. campaign to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

“The trouble is that Iran still supports terrorism,” said one U.S. official, “but Iran also is supporting the Shiite fundamentalists who oppose Saddam Hussein. And there is some hope that with Iraq deteriorating, Hussein may be brought down.”

President Bush has repeatedly called for the Iraqi people to overthrow Hussein and has made his ouster a major priority ever since last year’s Persian Gulf War.

American officials believe that Iran’s recent diplomatic overtures to the Gulf states, as well as its efforts in securing the freedom of Western hostages, are positive developments in and of themselves--but also mean that Tehran will be “a force to reckon with, economically and politically as well as militarily,” said a senior Government official.

“We are looking at a long-term question, not a short-term one,” the official said. “What kind of policy does Iran intend to follow? The jury is still out on that.”

While Russia is supplying the bulk of arms to Iran, other shipments are coming from North Korea and Argentina, as well as other countries, sources said.

“Iran is selling oil and gas to the Russians and getting capital to buy the arms,” said a U.S. official. “Iran already has achieved parity with Iraq and will soon be dominant because Iraq is just biding its time, hoping for an end to the sanctions.”

Besides purchasing SU-24s and MIG-29s from the Russians, the Iranians have kept for their own use the 146 planes, including advanced fighters and bombers, that Iraqi pilots flew to Iran to escape the withering American aerial assault during the Gulf War.

Some of the purchases from Russia were part of deals that were consummated with the Soviet Union before its break-up and the resignation of Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, while other deals were recently negotiated, a U.S. official said.

Iran last month urged international bodies to determine how much Iraq should pay in reparation for starting the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War that caused widespread devastation in both countries and more than 1 million casualties. Iran estimated its own war damage at as much as a trillion dollars.