December 5, 2010 - 16:19 AMT
Schiff: Armenia’s supplying Iran with weapons in 2008 "enormously troubling"

Revelations that U.S. officials charged Armenia in 2008 with supplying Iran with weapons later used to kill U.S. troops in Iraq were "enormously troubling," said Rep. Adam Schiff, who has been a staunch supporter of Congress officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

The charges were described in a cable sent from the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan that also showed the U.S. Americans considered sanctions against Armenia and demanded that leaders there impose greater controls on the movement of weapons.

U.S. and Armenian officials declined to discuss the diplomatic cable, part of a cache of 250,000 documents being made public by the website WikiLeaks.

Advocates of strong ties between the United States and Armenia said they hoped and expected that the memo would not harm relations between the two nations. Nonetheless, Schiff, a congressional leader who has long advocated deeper U.S.-Armenia ties, said the allegation in the published cable "is enormously troubling," Los Angeles Times reported.