BAGHDAD // Iran has signed a deal to sell Iraq arms and ammunition worth millions of dollars, a move that would break a United Nations embargo on weapons sales by Tehran.
The US$195 million (Dh716m) agreement was reached at the end of November, Reuters reported on Monday, just weeks after Iraq’s prime minister Nouri Al Maliki returned from Washington, where he lobbied the Obama administration for extra weapons to fight militants with links to Al Qaeda.
Some in Washington are nervous about providing sensitive US military equipment to a country they worry is becoming too close to Iran. Several Iraqi parliamentarians said Mr Maliki had made the deal because he was fed up with delays to US arms deliveries
A spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister would not confirm or deny the sale, but said such a deal would be understandable given Iraq’s current security troubles.
“We are launching a war against terrorism and we want to win this war. Nothing prevents us from buying arms and ammunition from any party and it’s only ammunition helping us to fight terrorists,” said the spokesman, Ali Mussawi.
The Iranian government denied any knowledge of a deal to sell arms to Iraq. It would be the first official arms deal between Shiite Iran and Iraq’s Shiite-led government and highlight the growing bond between them in the two years since the departure of US troops from Iraq.
One US official said such a deal could further complicate Washington’s approach to negotiating with Iran on easing international sanctions over its nuclear programme, which the West suspects is aimed at producing bombs. Iran says its aims are purely peaceful.
“If true, this would raise serious concerns,” the US official said. “Any transfer of arms from Iran to a third country is in direct violation of Iran’s obligations.”
The official documents seen by Reuters showed that six of eight contracts were signed with Iran’s Defence Industries Organisation to supply Iraq with light and medium arms, mortar launchers, ammunition for tanks as well as artillery and mortars.
A final two contracts were agreed to with the state-owned Iran Electronic Industries for night-vision goggles, communications equipment and mortar-guiding devices.
One of the contracts includes equipment to protect against chemical agents. An Iraqi army major with knowledge of procurement issues said that would include items such as gas masks and gloves, as well as injections. Baghdad has expressed fear the militants will use such agents against its forces.
Officials from the Iraqi and Iranian defence ministries signed the agreements, according to the documents. They did not list a timetable for deliveries and it was not possible to confirm whether they had taken place.
Mr Maliki is engaged in a nearly two-month-old battle in western Iraq against Sunni militants inspired by Al Qaeda and rebellious tribesmen. The prime minister has blamed the unrest in Anbar on the conflict spilling over from neighbouring Syria.
One western security official said US government experts believed an Iranian-Iraqi arms deal had been in the works for some time.
The growing friendship between the two countries is discomfiting for the United States, which has accused Iran of having shipped arms to the Syrian government through Iraq.
Iran already supplies Baghdad with electricity and gas and reiterated an offer of military assistance in January.
The weapons purchases amount to a drop in the ocean for Iraq, which receives most of its arms from the US and has also bought weapons and helicopters from Russia and other countries.
But they are politically significant as Mr Maliki pursues a third term in office.
* Reuters