'Iran stoking Iraq violence'

The US military commander in Iraq has stepped up accusations that Iran was stoking violence in Iraq and said Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad was a member of the Revolutionary Guards Qods force.

Washington accuses the force, the elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, of inciting bloodshed in Iraq and of training and equipping militias who have attacked US troops.

General David Petraeus, speaking at a US military base about 30 kilometres from the Iranian border on Saturday, said Iran was giving advanced weaponry to militias in Iraq.

"They are responsible for providing the weapons, the training, the funding and in some cases the direction for operations that have indeed killed US soldiers," General Petraeus told a small group of reporters when asked if the Iranian government was responsible for killing US troops.

"There is no question about the connection between Iran and these components, (the) attacks that have killed our soldiers."

Iran dismissed General Petraeus's comments as "baseless".

In August President George W. Bush, already at odds with Iran over its nuclear programme, said attacks on US troops with Iranian-supplied weapons were increasing and he had told commanders in Iraq to "confront Tehran's murderous activities". Since then, US military officers have repeatedly presented what they say is evidence of Iranian-produced arms, including the particularly deadly explosively formed projectile (EFP) bombs, being used against US soldiers.

"The ambassador is a Qods force member," General Petraeus said of Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, Iran's envoy to Baghdad. He did not say how he knew this but appeared to suggest that Mr Kazemi-Qomi was not under the US military spotlight because he was a diplomat.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference: "His remarks are not new and what he said was in line with the previous accusations against Iran".

Tehran routinely denies US accusations that it plays a role in Iraq's violence, as well as Western allegations its nuclear programme is aimed at developing atomic weapons.

President Bush has said he is committed to diplomacy to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme but he has not ruled out taking military action.

General Petraeus said Iran was supplying advanced rocket-propelled grenades, shoulder-fired "Stinger-like" air defence missiles, components to make EFPs and 240 mm rockets to militias in Iraq. General Petraeus also suggested there was an Iranian link in the assassination of two provincial governors in southern Iraq in August. Both were killed by roadside bombs.