See previous: Iranian bombs killing Americans in Iraq (Updated, bumped), Iranian bombs killing Americans in Iraq -- Update, Iranian bombs killing Americans in Iraq -- Update 2, Iranian bombs killing Americans in Iraq -- Update 3 

Iran Implicated
Confederate Yankee

This is the Steyr HS50, a single-shot bolt-action rifle of the shell-holder type, chambered in .50 BMG. You can get one if you pass a NICS background check and have $5,599.99 to spare (or you can get it on sale for$3,999.99), plus another $1,000 or more for one of the handful of scopes than can withstand the recoil of such a rifle, and of course, the cash needed for the custom-made .50 BMG cartridges these rifles digest (military-grade 50 BMG ammo, designed for machine guns, is not designed for the long-range accuracy these precision rifles demand).

Field & Stream had a nice write up about the growing number of American shooters who use rifles of this caliber and design for long-range marksmanship competitions and hunting.

Today's article in the U.K. Telegraph is far more disturbing. It seems that Iran purchased 800 of the Steyr HS50 rifles pictured above in 2006, and to date, more than 100 have been captured in Iraq.

Say hello to the smoking gun. ...

***

Tehran calling
Scott Johnson

I learn from Ed Morrissey this morning that the Daily Telegraph of London is reporting:

Austrian sniper rifles that were exported to Iran have been discovered in the hands of Iraqi terrorists...

Austrian sniper rifles that were exported to Iran have been discovered in the hands of Iraqi terrorists, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

More than 100 of the.50 calibre weapons, capable of penetrating body armour, have been discovered by American troops during raids.

The Steyr HS50 is a long range, high precision rifle
The guns were part of a shipment of 800 rifles that the Austrian company, Steyr-Mannlicher, exported legally to Iran last year.

The sale was condemned in Washington and London because officials were worried that the weapons would be used by insurgents against British and American troops.

Within 45 days of the first HS50 Steyr Mannlicher rifles arriving in Iran, an American officer in an armoured vehicle was shot dead by an Iraqi insurgent using the weapon.

The Telegraph's report follows the reports of Iran's contributions to the latest in armor-piercing roadside bombs in Iraq. ...

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Iranian Smoking Guns Found ... Literally
Ed Morrissey

The Telegraph reports this morning that rifles imported from Austria by Iran have surfaced among insurgents in Iraq. Steyr-Mannlicher exported 800 of its high-powered HS50 models, capable of piercing body armor, to the National Iranian Police Association for their anti-narcotics efforts:

[...]

This appears to aubstantiate the findings of the Department of Defense, presented this weekend, that Iran has actively supplied weapons to the Iraqi insurgencies, and that those weapons have killed American troops. The DoD focused on the EFPs, explosive devices that can destroy vehicular armor, and counted 170 American deaths from the super-IEDs. The HS50s have also killed Americans, and seem designed to do so. The first American to die from the HS50 was shot 45 days after the Iranian police received their shipment.

US forces have captured over a hundred of the HS50s from the Iranian police shipment. That amounts to over 12% of the total number of rifles imported by Iran to fight drug dealers, a dodge that has grown more threadbare ever since the invasion of Iraq. The Iranians have not claimed -- yet -- that they managed to lose one-eighth of all the new rifles intended for their police, and the Iranian government was clearly the recipient of the arms. In fact, Austria defended the sale on that very point.

Pardon the pun, but this is literally the smoking gun. ...

***

Here’s the Wabbit
Jules Crittenden

want to be fair to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, especially now that he’s all peacelovedove, and everyone’s getting nervous about the prospect of blowing his Israel-off-the-map-wiping, Holocaust-denying, terrorism-financing, chaos-spreading, U.S. soldier-murdering ass up. 

He probably doesn’t know the serial numbers of the .50 caliber Steyr-Mannlicher sniper rifles that somehow found their way from Iran to Iraq, where one of them killed an American 45 days after they were shipped from Austria.

He probably doesn’t know the serial numbers of the mortar rounds that were displayed in Baghdad the other day, and is probably not conversant in the details of how a sophisticated armor-piercing “explosively-formed projectile” works, and I’m sure he has no idea exactly how those ended up in Iraq.  By which route, who handled them, that kind of thing.      

A’jad’s blissful ignorance does not particularly bother me. His sudden professed interest in negotiations, lawful processes and international courts is entertaining, as are many of this murderous buffoon’s outlandish pronouncements. If and when the United States begins firing cruise missiles at Iran’s WMD sites, I highly doubt President Bush will know their serial numbers or exactly which ship fired which missile. When Apache attack helicopters, F-16s and American and Iraqi boots on the ground finally shut down the Iran-Iraq border, I highly doubt our president will know the serial numbers of the Hellfires and the 25mm Bushmasters and the M-4s, or the precise routes by which they arrived their, or the names of those pulling the triggers.  ...

***

Iranian Smoking Guns Found ... Literally
Ed Morrissey

The Telegraph reports this morning that rifles imported from Austria by Iran have surfaced among insurgents in Iraq. Steyr-Mannlicher exported 800 of its high-powered HS50 models, capable of piercing body armor, to the National Iranian Police Association for their anti-narcotics efforts:

[...]

This appears to aubstantiate the findings of the Department of Defense, presented this weekend, that Iran has actively supplied weapons to the Iraqi insurgencies, and that those weapons have killed American troops. The DoD focused on the EFPs, explosive devices that can destroy vehicular armor, and counted 170 American deaths from the super-IEDs. The HS50s have also killed Americans, and seem designed to do so. The first American to die from the HS50 was shot 45 days after the Iranian police received their shipment.

US forces have captured over a hundred of the HS50s from the Iranian police shipment. That amounts to over 12% of the total number of rifles imported by Iran to fight drug dealers, a dodge that has grown more threadbare ever since the invasion of Iraq. The Iranians have not claimed -- yet -- that they managed to lose one-eighth of all the new rifles intended for their police, and the Iranian government was clearly the recipient of the arms. In fact, Austria defended the sale on that very point.

Pardon the pun, but this is literally the smoking gun. ...

***

Here’s the Wabbit
Jules Crittenden

want to be fair to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, especially now that he’s all peacelovedove, and everyone’s getting nervous about the prospect of blowing his Israel-off-the-map-wiping, Holocaust-denying, terrorism-financing, chaos-spreading, U.S. soldier-murdering ass up. 

He probably doesn’t know the serial numbers of the .50 caliber Steyr-Mannlicher sniper rifles that somehow found their way from Iran to Iraq, where one of them killed an American 45 days after they were shipped from Austria.

He probably doesn’t know the serial numbers of the mortar rounds that were displayed in Baghdad the other day, and is probably not conversant in the details of how a sophisticated armor-piercing “explosively-formed projectile” works, and I’m sure he has no idea exactly how those ended up in Iraq.  By which route, who handled them, that kind of thing.      

A’jad’s blissful ignorance does not particularly bother me. His sudden professed interest in negotiations, lawful processes and international courts is entertaining, as are many of this murderous buffoon’s outlandish pronouncements. If and when the United States begins firing cruise missiles at Iran’s WMD sites, I highly doubt President Bush will know their serial numbers or exactly which ship fired which missile. When Apache attack helicopters, F-16s and American and Iraqi boots on the ground finally shut down the Iran-Iraq border, I highly doubt our president will know the serial numbers of the Hellfires and the 25mm Bushmasters and the M-4s, or the precise routes by which they arrived their, or the names of those pulling the triggers.  ...