Pentagon Blames Iran for
Bombs Used in Iraq Against U.S. Troops
By DAVID STOUT
02/15/07 "New
York Times" -- - WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 —
Pentagon leaders blamed the Iranian government again
today for deadly explosive devices being used against
American soldiers in Iraq and tried to tamp down
suggestions of a dispute on the subject.
“Well, we know that the Quds Force is involved,” Defense
Secretary Robert M. Gates said at a Pentagon briefing,
alluding to a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Corps. “We know that the Quds Force is a paramilitary
arm of the I.R.G. C. “We assume that the leadership of
the I.R.G.C. knows about this.”
American intelligence analysts have concluded that the
Quds Force is supplying Shiite groups in Iraq with
Iranian-designed weapons, called explosively formed
penetrators, which spray molten metal and are believed
responsible for the deaths of scores of American
soldiers.
The Quds Force has generally been under the control of
Iran’s senior religious leaders, and for that reason is
considered an arm of the Iranian government.
“Whether or not more senior political leaders in Iran
know about it, we don’t know,” Mr. Gates said. “And
frankly, for me, either way, it’s a worry. Either they
do know and have approved it, or they don’t know and the
may be acting on their own in Iraq.”
Mr. Gates’s statements came a day after President Bush
said at a press conference that he was certain that
factions within the Iranian government had supplied
Shiite militants in Iraq with the deadly roadside bombs.
But Mr. Bush also said he did not know whether Iran’s
highest officials had directed the attacks.
Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, who appeared with Mr. Gates, said any impression
that he disagreed with Mr. Gates on the issue is
erroneous. During a recent trip to Indonesia, the
general told reporters that it was not conclusive that
“the Iranian government, per se, for sure” was directly
involved in getting the weapons into Iraq.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
