The CIA has discovered that Iran secretly gave at least $500,000 in cash to Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic for his fall election campaign, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
The Clinton administration has said that pressure from the United States has forced Bosnia's Muslim government to loosen is ties with Iran, an Islamic country.But the report suggests that a year after the Dayton peace accords, Iranian influence in Bosnia remains significant. CIA analysts believe that Izetbegovic has been "co-opted by the Iranians" and is now "literally on their payroll," according to classified documents obtained by the Times.
An administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Monday that President Clinton consented to giving Bosnia $100 million in U.S. military aid even after the CIA had reported its findings about the Iranian payments.
"The Iranian contributions gave us pause," the official told the Times, and the concerns were "raised with the Bosnians."
However, Clinton still allowed U.S. military support to flow because the Iranian cash payments didn't technically violate the requirements Congress had imposed on U.S. aid.
Izetbegovic and his Muslim faction won the Bosnian elections in September. This led to the creation of a new national government led by a three-member presidency chaired by Izetbegovic.
Iranian influence in Bosnia remains a vexing problem, the official said.