U.S. Envoy in Iraq Accuses Iran Of Assisting Militias, Insurgents

An Iraqi soldier inspects the wreckage of a bus after a suicide attack in Baghdad. Bombings killed at least 25 Iraqis. (By Asaad Muhsin -- Associated Press)

BAGHDAD, Feb. 20 -- The U.S. ambassador to Iraq accused Iran on Monday of providing weapons, training and support to Iraqi militia and insurgent groups responsible for the country's continuing violence and instability.

At a news conference, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad criticized what he called Iran's "negative role" in Iraqi affairs, saying the country's diplomatic relationship with its neighbor was tainted by a policy "to work with militias, to work with extremist groups, to provide training and weapons." He added that there was evidence the Iranians provided "indirect help" to Sunni Arab insurgents who attack U.S. and Iraqi government troops.

The Iranian aid was part of a "comprehensive strategy" by a "player seeking regional preeminence," he said.

It was not the first time the United States and its allies have made such accusations. In October, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said his government was investigating evidence that Iran had sold sophisticated bombs to insurgents in Iraq.

But Khalilzad's remarks were unusually blunt. "I have said to Iraqis that we do not seek to impose our differences with Iran on them," Khalilzad said. "But we do not want Iranian interference in Iraq."

Khalilzad rejected recent Iranian calls for the withdrawal of British troops from the southern Iraqi city of Basra, saying that the demands were "uncalled for" and that the issue was "none of their business." The Iranians, he said, were attempting to divert attention from the dispute over their nuclear ambitions.

Iran called for the withdrawal soon after the release of a tape that appears to show British troops beating teenage boys who were involved in a protest in Basra, which lies near the Iranian border in a predominantly Shiite Muslim area.

"The coalition forces are here under a U.N. mandate, at the request of the Iraqi government," Khalilzad said. "Basra is Iraqi territory, the last time I checked the map."

Iraq's relationship to Iran is a complicated one. The two countries fought a brutal, inconclusive war in the 1980s. But Iraq's population is predominantly Shiite and many Shiite politicians have close ties to Iran, having lived there in exile during the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. This has led many Iraqis to fear that their country will become a pawn of their eastern neighbor.

Some Shiite parties maintain militias in order to back their decisions with force. It has long been a goal of U.S. policy to disband these groups, and critics say the militias, and militia fighters who have joined the country's security forces, are responsible for a campaign of killing and intimidation aimed at Sunni Arabs.

At the news conference, Khalilzad reiterated a call for Iraqis to form a government representing all of the country's ethnic and sectarian groups and to staff their security ministries with competent, nonsectarian leaders. He implied that the United States could cut off aid to Iraq if they do otherwise.

"We're not going to invest the resources of the American people to build forces run by people who are sectarian," Khalilzad said.