Pace Questions Whether Iran Arming Iraq

Gen. Peter Pace, the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff speaks at a news conference Tuesday Feb. 13, 2007 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Pace said Tuesday there was no evidence the Iranian government was supplying Iraqi insurgents with deadly roadside bombs, in apparent contradiction to claims by other U.S. military and administration officials.(AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana) (Tatan Syuflana - AP)

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- The top U.S. military officer said Tuesday 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 by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 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.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Monday he was confident the weaponry was coming with the approval of the Iranian government. On Tuesday, Snow said Pace's comments do not conflict with those of the senior military officials or the White House.

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."

On Monday, Pace said he had no firm knowledge that the Iranian government had sanctioned the arming of the insurgents.

"It is clear that Iranians are involved, and it's clear that materials from Iran are involved, but I would not say by what I know that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit," Pace told the Voice of America.

Iran denied it gave sophisticated weapons to militants to attack U.S. forces.

"Such accusations cannot be relied upon or be presented as evidence. The United States has a long history in fabricating evidence. Such charges are unacceptable," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters in Tehran.

When pressed repeatedly about the apparent mixed message, Snow said "We're not on separate pages." He said he had spoken to Pace about it.

"What he was thinking is, are you trying to lay this at the feet of members of the Supreme Governing Council?" Snow said of Pace. "Are you trying to lay this at the feet of particular individuals? The answer is no."

The United States does not have the intelligence that gets that specific and Pace was just being precise in how he answered the question about Iranian government involvement, Snow said.