(LOS ANGELES, April 5—Reuters) President Clinton approved covert Iranian arms shipments to Bosnia in 1994 despite a United Nations arms embargo, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday, but the White House said it had always respected the letter of the law. "The United States has always maintained that it upheld the letter of the law and the requirements of the U.N. Security Council resolution," a White House spokesman said, declining further comment.
Washington 'Would not Object...'
Quoting senior U.S. officials and other sources, the Los Angeles Times reported that Clinton approved the arms shipments even though the United States had pledged to uphold the U.N. embargo and had a policy "of isolating Tehran globally as a supporter of terrorism." It said two top U.S. diplomats, acting on White House and State Department instructions, told Croatian President Franjo Tudjman in early 1994 that Washington "would not object to the creation of an arms pipeline that would channel the weapons through Croatia and into Bosnia-Herzegovina for the forces of the Muslim-led government..."Tudjman raised the idea of the secret shipments and asked what the U.S. response would be, the Times quoted its sources as saying. At the time, the United States was publicly committed to the arms embargo and U.S. allies in Europe were concerned that an influx of arms would escalate the civil war in Bosnia. "But after consultations with National Security Advisor Anthony Lake and Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, the two U.S. diplomats—Charles Redman and Peter W. Galbraith—relayed to Tudjman that there would be no U.S. protest over the smuggling operation," the Los Angeles Times said.
"Specifically, the U.S. officials were told to say they had 'no instructions' concerning Iranian arms shipments—a diplomatic way of saying America would not object,'' it added. Clinton directly participated in the decision, the newspaper quoted a senior administration official as saying. After the U.S. decision, Tudjman was free to allow Iran to launch large-scale arms transfers through Croatia, an operation that continued until January this year, the Los Angeles Times said.
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