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Iran rejects claims it supplies weapons to Iraqi insurgents

Iran yesterday denied US accusations that it was stoking violence in Iraq by supplying militants with Iranian-made weapons and that those at the "highest levels" of Tehran's government were involved.

US-led forces presented on Sunday what officials said was "a growing body" of evidence of Iranian weapons being used to kill their soldiers. One official said "these activities are coming from the highest levels of the Iranian government."

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference: "What was presented is weak proof that even Americans themselves do not believe and is not acceptable."

He said the US was "designing artificial events" to justify their accusations.

"Iran's senior officials and others do not have anything to do with this issue and other issues. Any interference with Iraq's internal matters will weaken Iraq's government," he said.

Iran routinely denies US charges that it is fanning violence in Iraq, blames the presence of the US occupation for sectarian fighting and says Tehran wants a stable neighbor.

In Sunday's briefing, a senior defense official from the US-led multinational force in Baghdad said 170 coalition forces had been killed by Iranian-made roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) smuggled into Iraq.

The officials showed journalists fragments of what they said were Iranian-manufactured weapons, including one part of an EFP -- which is strong enough to penetrate the armour of an Abrams tank -- and tail fins from 81mm and 60mm mortar bombs.

Top US Democrats have expressed skepticism about the US government's claims.

"I look at this with a degree of skepticism, based on the record that these intelligence operations have provided us in the past," said Christopher Dodd, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who has expressed an interest in running for president.
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