The top U.S. military commander in Iraq says Iran is giving advanced weaponry to militias in Iraq, Reuters reported Saturday.
"They are responsible for providing the weapons, the training, the funding and in some cases the direction for operations that have indeed killed U.S. soldiers," Gen. David Petraeus said Saturday, stepping up accusations that Iran is fueling violence in Iraq.
"There is no question about the connection between Iran and these components, (the) attacks that have killed our soldiers," he said at a U.S. military base near the Iranian border.
Petraeus also said Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad is a member of the Revolutionary Guard's Qods force. U.S. officials accuse the elite unit of inciting bloodshed in Iraq and of training and equipping militias who have attacked U.S. troops.
The U.S. has long accused Iran of aiding Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq that it says have killed hundreds of U.S. troops with powerful bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs.
Iran disputes those allegations, saying it does not meddle inside Iraq.
But Iraq National Security Adviser Dr. Mowaffak al-Rubaie told NPR during a visit to Washington, D.C., last week that Iran is meddling in Iraq's affairs and setting up a proxy war in his country. However, he warned U.S. officials about the danger of attacking Iran directly, saying it would be a fatal mistake and would draw the whole region into instability. Rubaie said the U.S. should instead engage seriously with Iran.
From NPR and wire reports.
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