Iran missile sale faces probe

WASHINGTON, November 2: Even as US President Bill Clinton’s administration celebrates new assurances that China will refrain from selling nuclear missile technology to Iran, it is also investigating the recent delivery of non-nuclear cruise missiles to Tehran.

The question confronting US investigators is whether enough missiles were delivered by China to create a destabilising situation in the Persian Gulf region, a senior US Official said on Friday. If so, Chinese firms could be blacklisted under US law. This despite China giving “clear-cut, specific assurances” that it would not undertake new nuclear deals with Iran, in a bid to assure the US it wasn’t spreading deadly weapons.y