U.S. Blames Tehran For Escalating Iraq Violence

The commander of US forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, yesterday sharpened America's confrontation with Iran, claiming that a leader of its Revolutionary Guard corps was in direct charge of policy in Baghdad.

The Guardian reports:


The charge that Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, was a member of the Quds force, a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, takes US accusations of Iranian meddling in Iraq's violence to a new level. It strengthens suggestions that Washington is ratcheting up the rhetoric against Tehran in preparation for military strikes against Revolutionary Guard facilities in Iran.

"The ambassador is a Quds force member," Gen Petraeus told reporters at the weekend. "Now he has diplomatic immunity and therefore he is obviously not subject [to scrutiny]."

Hours after Gen Petraeus spoke to CNN and Reuters at a US military base near the Iranian border, the US military said it had arrested three members of an Iranian-backed militia believed to be responsible for the kidnapping of five Britons.

The Britons - a computer expert and four bodyguards - were taken from the finance ministry in Baghdad last May by gunmen dressed in police commander uniforms without a shot being fired.

The general, who told Congress last month that Iran was playing an increasingly dangerous role in Iraq by providing arms to Shia militia, provided no evidence that Mr Kazemi-Qomi was a member of the Revolutionary Guard. The Iranian ambassador has held two sessions with the top US diplomat in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, to discuss the violence in Iraq.

Responding to the accusations at a news conference, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said: "His remarks are not new and what he said was in line with the previous accusations against Iran."

Tehran denies US accusations that it plays a role in Iraq's violence, as well as western allegations that its nuclear programme is aimed at developing atomic weapons.

In August, officials revealed that the Bush administration was considering designating the entire Revolutionary Guard corps a terrorist organisation. However, reports last month said the state department had decided instead to single out the Quds force as a terrorist entity, which would enable the Bush administration to impose financial measures against the elite unit.

Gen Petraeus said at the weekend that he had few doubts about the role of the Quds force in the violence in Iraq, accusing the unit of supplying material for roadside bombs which have killed US troops as well as provincial governors. "There should be no question about the malign, lethal involvement and activities of the Quds force in this country," he said.

Also yesterday an Iraqi government inquiry found that guards working for the private security contractor Blackwater had opened fire without provocation on Iraqi civilians. A spokesman for the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, said 17 people had been killed in the incident, and that the convoy under Blackwater's protection "wasn't even hit by a stone" when the guards opened fire.