General Pace: Iran Sending Arms to Afghanistan, Iraq

[SWJED]

18 April Washington Times - General Pace: Iran Sending Arms to Afghanistan, Iraq by Bill Gertz.

Iran is shipping arms and explosives to Afghanistan, in addition to providing deadly armor-piercing bombs covertly to Iraqi insurgents, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday.

"It is not as clear in Afghanistan which Iranian entity is responsible, but we have intercepted weapons in Afghanistan headed for the Taliban that were made in Iran," Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace told reporters at a breakfast meeting.

The four-star general said the arms included mortars and C-4 plastic explosive that were found in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan within the past month. He did not provide details on the quantities of the intercepted materials or say if it was a new discovery of Iranian-made arms in that country.

A U.S. official with access to intelligence data confirmed that there are new signs of Iranian arms shipments to the Taliban in recent months...

There are also reports Iran is stepping up support for Iraqi insurgents. Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of Multinational Corps-Iraq, told reporters Friday there are new signs that Iran is "not only providing support to Shia groups, but also Sunni insurgent groups." ...