Bosnia must dump its deputy defense minister, who is seen in the United States as having close ties to Iran, before American military aid shipments can resume, a U.S. official says.

The decision to suspend the shipments was disclosed as the single largest shipment of U.S. military hardware arrived at a port in Croatia. The action effectively denies the Muslim-Croat federation equipment promised by the Clinton administration as part of the Bosnian peace agreement con-cluded last November in Dayton, Ohio.The United States has been eager to help the federal government build up its defenses to achieve military parity with the better-armed Bosnian Serbs. An earlier shipment included with 15 helicopters, some 50,000 small arms and other surplus equipment.

The cargo ship American Condor arrived Thursday at the Croatian port of Ploce near the Bosnian border with a second shipment of $100 million in arms, including 45 M-60 battle tanks and 79 armored personnel carriers.

State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said Thursday that shipment will eventually be transferred to federation military storage sites in Bosnia.

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"But it will only be shipped to those sites when some remaining issues of concern to the United States government are resolved on a satisfactory basis by the Bosnian government," he said.

Burns said the unresolved issues included implementation of a joint Muslim-Croat defense law and other problems which he declined to discuss.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said delivery of the arms is being held up until the Bosnian government sacks Deputy Defense Minister Hasan Cengic.

The official did not elaborate, but the Clinton administration reportedly has tried on at least one occasion in the past to pressure Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic to fire Cengic.

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