Weapon parts negotiations took place between Romania and Iraq

BUCHAREST, Romania (CNN) -- After initial denials, the government acknowledged Thursday that state-owned Romanian companies held negotiations starting in 1994 with Iraq and may have sold the country weapon parts.

"In 1994-96, there were some negotiation rounds between the Military Industry Ministry of Iraq and the heads of Romtehnica, Giara and Aerofina, Romanian military companies," said the Defense Ministry in a statement.

Officials from the companies Giara and Romtehnica went to Iraq in July 1994 to discuss the sale of short-range missile components and raw materials for the defense industry.

"We don't know whether a delivery was made," said Capt. Ovidiu Dumitrascu, a Defense Ministry spokesman.

Iraq is required to eliminate long-range missiles, biological, chemical and nuclear weapons under a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted after the 1991 Gulf War.

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Iraq has insisted it has destroyed all such weapons.

A representative for the state company Aerofina signed a contract in 1995 for missile components to be delivered by a Jordanian company serving as an intermediary, the statement said.

The contracts and negotiations were halted in December 1996, and an army general, two colonels and the chief responsible for procuring military equipment for the army were fired, the statement said without elaborating.

Earlier this week, the Defense Ministry had denied that any Iraqi-Romanian negotiations took place or that there were any dismissals in connection with the negotiations.

An attempt to reactivate talks in 1998 was foiled by Romanian and international intelligence services and negotiations broke down.

NewsStand: CNN & TIME reported on Sunday that a delegation of Iraqi missile engineers, headed by Dr. Hamid Halil Ibrahim Al Azawi, spent two weeks in Bucharest in May, attempting through Romanian middlemen to restart commercial ties with Aerofina.

The sophisticated guidance equipment from Aerofina would have made it possible for Iraq to increase the range of its missiles, making them capable of hitting major Middle Eastern cities such as Teheran and Tel Aviv.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.