US accuses Iran of arming Iraqi insurgents

By Damien McElroy
The Telegraph
Jan. 14, 2007

America has accused five Iranians detained by its forces in Iraq last week of involvement in Teheran’s efforts to supply insurgent militias with financing, training and weapons.

Iran angrily rejected the claims and demanded the release of the officials, who were working a liaison office in Irbil, the capital of Kurdish northern Iraq.

A statement from the US military said: “Preliminary results revealed the five detainees are connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard — Qods Force, an organisation known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilise the government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces.”

On a tour of the Middle East, the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said America would no longer tolerate Teheran’s support for armed groups in Iraq.

She revealed that President George W Bush had issued a standing order to US troops to interdict covert Iranian activities.

She said: “I think there is plenty of evidence that there is Iranian involvement with these networks that are making high-explosive IEDs and that are endangering our troops, and that’s going to be dealt with.”

IEDs are improvised explosive devices, which are often planted by the sides of roads to target passing vehicles.

Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, has called for a full American explanation of the decision to raid the Iranian office, which was established while the Kurds were autonomous from Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Iran’s foreign ministry claimed the men were working in a consulate and thus entitled to diplomatic protection.

Its spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said: “Americans should immediately release the five Iranians and pay compensation for the damages they caused to our office in Irbil.”

Allegations that Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers were involved in supplying weapons and know-how to Shia Muslim militias in Iraq first surfaced 15 months ago in Basra, in the south.

British troops were killed by a series of shaped charge explosions - roadside bombs that target an explosive force very precisely to penetrate armour plating.

In recent months shaped charges have been discovered in American-run parts of Iraq, killing US soldiers on patrol.

The Revolutionary Guard is also accused of providing training for the footsoldiers of Iraq’s Shia militias, ranging from bomb-making skills to sniper training.

In just over two years members of the Madhi Army, the biggest militia in central Iraq, have evolved from an organised rabble into skilled guerrillas, adept in the techniques of urban warfare.

Iraqi officials predicted the seized Iranians will be released this week, claiming the Americans failed to seize high-ranking officials named in intelligence documents.