The White House has made clear to Sinn Fein that it expects it to use its influence with the IRA to ensure that killings in Northern Ireland and gun-running between the US and Ireland must cease.
Reacting to the assessment by the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Dr Mo Mowlam, that the IRA ceasefire has not broken down, the White House said it respected the decision, which it described as "a difficult one".
The statement said that "we deplore the recent instances of paramilitary violence and efforts to smuggle weapons from the US to Ireland." The US law enforcement authorities had "responded to Mowlam's request for information and continue to actively investigate the Florida gun-running case".
The statement said "violence and preparations for violence only undermine the prospects for implementing the Good Friday accord in full. Those with influence on paramilitary groups must make clear to them that such activities must cease. All parties must comply with all aspects of the agreement when the review process facilitated by Senator Mitchell gets under way on September 6th."
Without naming Sinn Fein, the statement made it clear from the context that it was the party "with influence" which must call on the IRA to cease violence and preparations for violence.
Dr Mowlam told reporters in Belfast yesterday she had no doubt the IRA was involved "in a way that is counterproductive and unhelpful" in alleged gun-running from the US.
President Clinton has been briefed regularly on developments in Northern Ireland while he is on holiday on Martha's Vineyard, an administration official said.
The White House had arranged for the Northern Ireland Office to make direct contact with the Department of Justice and the FBI in Washington.
The US authorities had passed on the information Dr Mowlam needed before she made her assessment, but because the investigation into the gun-running case in Florida was still ongoing and because of court proceedings, there were "limits" to what the US authorities could share, the official said.
During the bail hearing in Fort Lauderdale last month for the three persons accused of buying and sending guns through the mail to Ireland, the prosecution said that one of the defendants, Mr Conor Claxton, had told an FBI agent he was on an arms procurement mission for the IRA.
Mr Claxton's lawyer later said that was a "stretch" and that his client might have replied to FBI suggestions by nodding.
The IRA in a statement has denied that the "leadership" of the organisation authorised the gunrunning operation.