[New York Times] Michael R. Gordon - A shipment of Iranian-made weapons bound for the Taliban was recently captured by allied forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday. The Bush administration has charged that Iran has also been supplying lethal support to Shiite militants in Iraq. According to American intelligence officials, the support to militant groups in Iraq is so systematic that it could not be carried out without the knowledge of senior Iranian officials. "Based on our understanding of the Iranian system and the history of I.R.G.C. [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] operations, the intelligence community assesses that activity this extensive on the part of the Quds Force would not be conducted without approval from top leaders in Iran," a senior intelligence official said this year. The Quds Force is an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guards. "We know that there are munitions that were made in Iran that are in Iraq and in Afghanistan," General Pace said Tuesday. "And we know that the Quds Force works for the I.R.G.C."
2007-04-18 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive