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Analysis: A War of Words with Iran

Council on Foreign Relations

May 7, 2008
Author: Greg Bruno

Accusations regularly fly between Washington and Tehran about their involvement in Iraq, but the past few weeks have seen these charges take a more specific turn. The U.S. military in recent weeks has accused Iran of arming Shiite militias inside the war zone. What’s more, an unnamed U.S. official told the New York Times that Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terrorist group, has been training Iraqi fighters at a base near Tehran. The government of Iran, meanwhile, has pulled out of a fourth round of bilateral talks over Iraqi security to protest what Tehran calls the “massacre” (aj-Jazeera) of innocent civilians in Iraq by U.S.-led forces. The Pentagon says it is only bombing fighters suspected of receiving Iranian backing.

Caught in the middle of the diplomatic fracas is Iraq’s Shiite-led government. After months of mounting U.S. claims of Iranian interference, a delegation of Iraqi lawmakers traveled to Tehran to discuss new evidence (Reuters) said to implicate Iran in cross-border meddling. The alleged links, amassed by the U.S. military but so far classified, are said to include proof Iranian manufactured weapons are being used to kill U.S. and Iraqi soldiers. A military official told CFR.org on background last month recent weapons caches uncovered include rockets with serial numbers traceable to Iran. Charges of Hezbollah-staffed training camps, in particular, have some urging action: John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the UN, says any camp harboring militants should be targeted by “military force” (Telegraph) to show the Iranians “we’re not going to tolerate this.” But mixed messages from the Iraqi delegation highlights Baghdad’s balancing act in juggling relations with competing powers (LAT). Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman, was quoted by an Iranian news agency as suggesting claims of Iranian interference were “speculation” (Fars).

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.