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General unsure Iran government behind weapons

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 14, 2007

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that the discovery that roadside bombs in Iraq contained material made in Iran does not necessarily mean the Iranian government was involved in supplying insurgents.

The comments called into question assertions by three senior U.S. military officials in Baghdad on Sunday who said the highest levels of Iranian government were responsible for arming Shiite militants in Iraq with the bombs, blamed for the deaths of more than 170 troops in the U.S.-led coalition.

Pace told reporters in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, that U.S. forces hunting militant networks in Iraq that produced roadside bombs had arrested Iranians and some of the materials used in the devices were made in Iran.

"That does not translate that the Iranian government per se, for sure, is directly involved in doing this," Pace said. "What it does say is that things made in Iran are being used in Iraq to kill coalition soldiers."

White House spokesman Tony Snow said he had phoned Pace on Tuesday and Pace agreed with the basic scenario spelled out by military officials Sunday - that weapons are moving into Iraq through the Iran's Revolutionary Guards elite Quds Force.

Iran has denied providing the weapons.

[Last modified February 14, 2007, 01:02:11]