Controversy
Steyr made international headlines when it sold 800 HS .50 long range sniper rifles to Iran in 2005, for the National Iranian Police Organisation to use against drug smugglers, by Navid Pars business Group later to be known as Navid Pars America through its chairman Navid Khiabani.
There were claims in the UK and the United States that the rifles would find their way into Iraq and be used against the New Iraqi Army or Coalition forces. Forty-five days later it was claimed that several American soldiers were killed by one of the exported weapons, and that a number of the rifles were recovered in raids on Iraqi insurgents. However, the U.S. Central Command announced late 2007 that no Austrian rifle had been found or seized in Iraq.
Read more about this topic: Steyr Mannlicher
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