US Charges & Warnings.

The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Michael Mullen on April 25 said he was "extremely concerned" about "the increasingly lethal and malign influence" by the Quds Force in aiding militants in Iraq, Afghanistan and the rest of the world. He said Syria continued to move foreign insurgents and arms into Iraq. On April 26, the US media said Iran and Syria were co-ordinating their moves on Iraq.

The tone of Mullen's remarks left the impression that, far from abating, US worries about Iran intensified in recent months. He said: "The Iranian government pledged to halt such activities some months ago. It's plainly obvious they have not. Indeed, they seem to have gone the other way". He said the discovery of weapons caches in Iraq, with devices bearing stamps indicating they were manufactured quite recently, ran contrary to Iranian promises not to interfere in Iraq. He said he found it hard to believe all the top Iranian leaders were ignorant of recent developments.

The Pentagon is sufficiently concerned about Iran's apparently deepening involvement in Iraq that it plans a briefing in the near future by Army Lt Gen David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, to publicise the caches of weapons, some of which believed to have been used against US troops in the recent fighting in Basra. Details of the weapons and the Pentagon's concerns were on April 25 disclosed in The Wall Street Journal.

Mullen said: "I believe recent events, especially the Basra operation, have revealed just how much and just how far Iran is reaching into Iraq to foment instability". Of particular concern to US military commanders are explosively formed penetrators (EFPs), which the Pentagon says are being made in Iran and shipped to Shi'ite militants in Iraq, where they are used to deadly effect against US forces trying to subdue extremist elements and bolster the Maliki government.

Asked whether the new evidence of Iranian mischief in Iraq portended a US military conflict with Iran, Mullen said: "I'm not going to add anything to what I've already said in that regard". For now, Mullen said, the best weapon against Iran was a combination of diplomatic and financial pressure by the US and other nations alarmed by Iran's attitude.

Pentagon leaders have said they would not rule out military action against Iran. But it is not uncommon for US civilian and military leaders to leave "all options on the table" - an often-used phrase, because to rule out military action in advance is seen as admitting a lack of resolve. Mullen acknowledged that the US military was being stretched thin by the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he said: "it would be a mistake to think that we are out of combat capability".

As for Iranian motives, Mullen said Tehran's leadership hoped for a weak Iraq, so that Iran can increase its influence in the region. Moreover, deep resentment remains in Iran towards the US, which until the 1979 revolution long backed the repressive regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as a bulwark against Soviet influence in the Cold War. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad has shown little indication of wanting better relations with Washington.

Mullen said Iranian influence in Iraq went beyond shipment of weapons, adding: "They continue to train Iraqis in Iran to come back and fight Americans and the coalition". Reiterating earlier accusations, he asserted that Iranian leaders "continue to broadly support terrorists in other parts of the region", including the militant groups Hizbullah and Hamas. He said: "And in fact, we're seeing some evidence that they're supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan".