Top Armenian Officials Decline Comment On ‘Arms Supplies’ to Iran Allegations

Manoyan said the fact Washington never applied the sanctions threatened by Negroponte means that “there was probably no such thing.”

Manoyan, whose party is now in opposition to the Sargisian administration, suggested that Washington might have simply sought either to prevent any such transfer of weaponry from Armenia to Iran, and/or the right to inspect Armenian border facilities at will.

The US Embassy in Yerevan, meanwhile, declined to comment on the content of the leaked document. The embassy reaffirmed the State Department’s strong condemnation of this and other WikiLeaks documents. In a written statement, it also downplayed the significance of classified correspondence between Washington and US diplomatic missions abroad.

“These cables are often preliminary and incomplete expressions of foreign policy, and they should not be seen as having standing on their own or as representing US policy,” the statement said.

A “background” note for US diplomats in Yerevan that was attached to Negroponte’s letter contends that Armenia “facilitated” Iran’s purchase of rockets and machine guns in 2003. “In 2007, some of these weapons were recovered from two Shia militant attacks in which a United States soldier was killed and six others were injured in Iraq,” it states without specifying the precise type and origin of the weapons.

The 2008 document adds that the State Department plans to send a team of officials to Yerevan who will present additional proof of the arms transfer and “make it unreasonable for Sargisian to continue his denials.” It says “high-ranking Armenian officials” were directly involved in the deal but does not name any of them.

Sargisian then the defense minister, met at least four times with the Iranian ambassador to Yerevan between March 2002 and July 2003.

Defense and security are arguably the least advanced component of Armenia’s close relationship with neighboring Iran, which has centered on economic cooperation and, in particular, joint energy projects. US officials have occasionally indicated Washington’s unease over Armenian-Iranian ties, warning that they might run counter to international sanctions imposed on Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.

Yerevan was unhappy May 2002 when the US State Department blacklisted an Armenian businessman who had allegedly sold biochemical equipment to an Iranian-linked company registered in the United Arab Emirates. The equipment was dismantled from a Soviet-era Armenian factory that used to grow special bacteria for the production of lysine, an amino acid added to animal fodder. Scientists say the bacteria could also generate other biochemical substances.

The affair prompted the Kocharian government to tighten export controls on its main border crossings. The United States had begun helping it prevent the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction even before the scandal. In the past decade, Armenian border guard and customs services have been supplied with various US-made equipment such as radio-communication systems, border sensors, metal detectors, cargo-truck scales, and X-ray units. The supplies are part of the US government’s Export Control and Related Border Security Assistance Program (EXBS) that has been implemented in dozens of countries.