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Iran on weapons buying spree

AP via Washington Times:

Iran is quietly building a stockpile of thousands of high-tech small arms and other military equipment -- from snipers' rifles that take armor-piercing bullets to night-vision goggles -- through legal weapons deals and a U.N. anti-drug program, according to an internal United Nations document, arms dealers and Western diplomats.
The buying spree is raising fears in the Bush administration that the arms could end up with militants in Iraq.
Tehran also is seeking approval for a U.N.-funded satellite network that Iran says it needs to fight drug smugglers, stoking U.S. worries it could be used to spy on Americans in Iraq or Afghanistan -- or any U.S. reconnaissance in Iran itself.

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Much of the military hardware has been hard to hide -- sales of tanks and anti-ship missiles by Belarus and China, or helicopters and artillery pieces from Russia have been well documented by U.S. authorities and international nongovernment agencies.
Other weapons are smuggled and may be revealed only by chance -- such as the consignment of 12 nuclear-capable cruise missiles delivered by Ukrainian arms dealers to Iran four years ago but divulged by Ukrainian opposition officials only recently.
The smaller weapons and related material Iran is amassing may not be as eye-catching.
But they are of U.S. concern because of their origin -- through U.N.-funded programs or technically advanced Western countries -- and because they could harm U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan or ultimately Iran, which President Bush has not ruled out as a military target.