Iran reiterates not sending weapons to Hizbollah

TEHRAN, July 30: Iran today reiterated that it does not arm its ally Hizbollah, countering accusations that missiles hitting Israeli military and civilian targets are Iranian-made.

Although Iran funded and armed Hizbollah in the 1980s, deploying Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon, it has always insisted in recent years that its support for the group is purely political, moral and humanitarian.

''If we provide Hizbollah with military support we will definitely announce it. But I am telling you that we do not supply military backing,'' Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference.

US President George W Bush has repeatedly accused Hizbollah's sponsors Iran and Syria of holding responsibility for the war between Hizbollah and Israel that erupted on July 12.

Iranian authorities last week stopped at the border about 200 hardline Iranian students who had announced plans to join Hizbollah's fight against Israel.

An Israeli military source has said an Iranian-made C802 radar-guided land-to-sea missile with a range of 95 km hit and badly damaged a ship during Israel's offensive against Lebanon.

Hizbollah said it fired ''Raad (Thunder) 2 and Raad 3'' rockets at a rail depot in Haifa. Raad missiles are Iranian.

Israel's army said it destroyed an Iranian-made Zelzal missile with range of between 120 and 160 kilometres before it was launched.

REUTERS