Iran recruits own militants in Iraq to use weapons
Source: Reuters
By David Morgan WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Iran has recruited its own network of Iraqi Shi'ite extremists to use armor-piercing weapons against U.S. and coalition forces rather than against Sunni rivals, current and former intelligence officials say. The secretive Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards has circumvented Shi'ite organizations like the Mehdi Army to enlist individual militants and train them in the use of explosively formed penetrators, the officials said. The weapons, known as EFPs, have killed 170 U.S.-led coalition troops, according to the Pentagon. U.S. officials have said these weapons have come into greater use over the past year. "The purpose appears not to be to shore up Iran's political partners in Iraq against the Sunnis, but to cause problems for American troops," said a former intelligence official who closely monitors events in the Middle East. Tehran denies supplying the arms, and President George W. Bush has said the United States cannot prove complicity by Iran's leaders. U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell told the Senate this week that the EFPs were made in Iran and taken into Iraq by Quds Force members. The Pentagon said Iran is training Iraqi Shi'ites in both Iran and Lebanon to use the weapons. Iran may have set up its own network in order to control distribution of the weaponry, said an intelligence official, who asked not to be identified because the subject involves classified information. "It would have to be a controlled network," he said. Why Iran has deployed the EFP's and to what degree Tehran has been involved in attacks on U.S. troops is still being debated in the Bush administration. WARNING TO U.S TROOPS? Some experts believe Iran has supplied traceable weapons to show the United States what ground troops might face in any military intervention. "Tensions between these two countries have escalated dramatically since 2003, and everybody has suspected for a long time that Iraq could become a battlefield," said Vali Nasr, Middle East expert at the Naval Postgraduate School. "I'm sure these (munitions) have been used to let it be known that the Iranians have these capabilities in Iraq." Added an intelligence source: "They could be saying, 'This is the merest taste of what you would face if you came across the border or bombed us or knocked out our nuclear reactors'." Iran is under pressure to abandon enrichment activities that Washington believes are aimed at developing nuclear arms, a charge Tehran denies. Bush has said repeatedly the United States is not planning a war and the administration this week opened the door to dialogue with Iran and Syria over Iraq. But combative U.S. rhetoric and America's military build-up in the Gulf have fueled worries about a U.S. attack. Others believe the increasing use of EFPs may be linked to Tehran's suspicions of covert U.S. and British operations inside Iran, where tensions among minority Arabs, Kurds and others have led to violence. Former intelligence officials who monitor the Middle East said a covert Pentagon operation set up by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used ethnic separatists as U.S. proxies in Iran. "Incidents, particularly among the Arab minority inside Iran, have caused the Iranians some problems," said one former official. "Speculation is that this is their tit-for-tat." Britain has denied involvement in Iran. Asked about an alleged covert operation, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said: "The United States has been very clear about the concerns that we have with respect to Iran and the means by which we are addressing those concerns -- and that is through diplomacy."
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