Iran/Bosnia Arms
30 May 96 Hearing
House International Relations Committee



     (Witnesses: Ambs. Charles Redman & Peter Galbraith)




Washington -- U.S. Ambassador to

Germany Charles Redman and U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Peter

Galbraith testified May 30 before the House International

Relations Committee regarding 1994 Iranian arms shipments to

Bosnian government military forces.  At the time of these

shipments, the Bosnians were in danger of being overwhelmed by

Serbian forces armed with tanks and other heavy weapons the

Bosnians could not counter.
Ambassador Galbraith said he

knew Croatian authorities would interpret his statement that he

had no instructions regarding the transshipment of arms from Iran

and other countries through Croatia to beleaguered Bosnian forces

as meaning that the United States would not object to the

move.
Both ambassadors noted at that time that Iran had

already been supplying arms to the Bosnians since

1992.
Ambassador Redman said:  "In retrospect, I believe

that the decision not to oppose the Croatian initiative was

crucial to all that followed in the Balkans."  He said that after

the Serbs overran Gorazde, "the Bosnian government was in dire

straits."  He contended that if the United States had blocked the

Iranian arms supply initiative, "it very likely would have doomed

the (Croat-Muslim) Federation and exacerbated an already

desperate military situation for the Bosnians.
"Instead,"

he said, "the Bosnian armed forces held on and began to

counterattack.  The Federation survived, UNPROFOR remained in

place, helping the Bosnians through another difficult winter, and

we bought time for a combination of American diplomacy, NATO air

power and Croatian and Bosnian military victories, to reach an

historic peace agreement in Dayton."
According to

Ambassador Galbraith, "it was the war that created the

opportunities for the Iranians and other undesirables to come

into Bosnia.  In fact, there were very serious terrorist threats

to Americans, including to the mission for which I am

responsible, well before this -- the April 1994 discussions that

we were talking about, and those threats were created because of

the war.
"Paradoxically," he said, "and I say this --

paradoxically, or perversely, I should say -- perversely, from

an Iranian perspective, the decision to permit the transit of

arms through Croatia to Bosnia had the unintended, from the

Iranian point of view, but nonetheless the very real effect of

diminishing the Iranian influence.  Why?  Because it enabled the

Bosnians to defend themselves, to survive, and then, in

conjunction with the Croatians, to roll back some of the Serb

gains, thus paving the way to the Dayton agreement."
The

hearing was called to order by Representative Benjamin Gilman,

the committee chairman.