Washington: Iranian military has smuggled deadly new weapons to various anti-American groups in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan, raising concerns in the United States, a media report said on Saturday.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran “has smuggled rocket-assisted exploding projectiles to its militia allies in Iraq, weapons that have already resulted in the deaths of American troops,” the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting US defense officials.
According to the officials, Iranians have also given long-range rockets to the Taliban in Afghanistan, increasing the insurgents’ ability to hit US and other coalition positions from a safer distance, it said.
The report comes days after a top White House counter-terrorism official accused Iran of being a state sponsor of terrorism and trying to benefit from the instability in the region.
“I think they’re trying to do a couple of things. One is they’re trying to exploit some of the instability that is taking place in certain countries as a way to increase their contacts, their relationships, their equities,” said John Brennan, Assistant to the US President for Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism, said in his speech at the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.
“We see that they are, in fact trying to operate in different countries by establishing relationships with the groups that may be were out of favour six months ago and now are coming into favour,” Brennan said.
The Wall Street Journal said such arms shipments would escalate the shadow competition for influence playing out between Tehran and Washington across the Middle East and North Africa, fueled by the US preparations to draw down forces from two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the political rebellions that are sweeping the region.
“The US is wrestling with the aftermath of uprisings against longtime Arab allies from Tunisia to Bahrain, and trying to leave behind stable, friendly governments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Iran appears to be trying to gain political ground amid the turmoil and to make the US withdrawals as quick and painful as possible,” it said.
“In Afghanistan, the Pentagon has in recent months traced to Iran the Taliban’s acquisition of rockets that give its fighters roughly double the range to attack North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and US targets,” the report said.
Quoting US officials, it said the rockets’ markings, and the location of their discovery, give them a “high degree” of confidence that they came from the Revolutionary Guard’s overseas unit, the Qods Force.
US defence officials are also increasingly concerned that Iran’s stepped-up military activities in the Persian Gulf could inadvertently trigger a clash, the daily said, adding that a number of near misses involving Iranian and allied ships and planes in those waters in recent months have caused navy officials to call for improved communication in the Gulf. (PTI)
