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2 Senate panels

to probe US role

in Iran's arms

supply to Bosnia

WASHINGTON: Two Senate committees were given the task Wednesday to investigate the U.S. role in Iran's delivery of arms to Bosnian Muslim forces.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, the likely Republican presidential nominee, called for an investigation after a press report said the United States in effect gave a green light to the arms deliveries at a time when it was saying the international arms embargo had to be honoured.

After a meeting in his office with committee chairmen, Dole said the Intelligence Committee would investigate whether any administration officials were engaged in covert action and the Foreign Relations Committee would review policy issues.

"While we read and heard reports that Iran was smuggling arms to Bosnia, we did not know the president and his advisers had made a conscious decision to give a green light to Iran to provide arms," Dole told the Senate.

"This duplicitous policy has seriously damaged our credibility with our allies," Dole said. "It has also produced one of the most serious threats to our military forces in Bosnia." Dole, who had called for the United States to lift the arms embargo against the Muslims, said that if the ban had been lifted American troops might not have been needed in Bosnia.-Reuters