Britain and the United States have a message for Iran: get your nose out of Iraq:
Britain formally protested to Iran yesterday over its growing interference in Iraq’s internal affairs, citing the smuggling of sophisticated explosives that threaten to send coalition casualties soaring.
The move came after British and American intelligence officials said they uncovered evidence that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was providing deadly “shaped” charges to Iraq’s insurgents.
They are also thought to be providing training and other weapons.
A statement by the Foreign Office said: “Any Iranian link to armed groups in Iraq outside the political process, either through supply of weapons, training or funding are unacceptable and undermine Iran’s long-term interest to secure a stable and democratic Iraq.”
Iran had given “many public undertakings” to improve border security, fight terrorism and “not to interfere in Iraq’s internal affairs”.
British ire is being shared by USers, too:
Britain’s statement came hours after Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, also accused Iran of smuggling weaponry. He said: “It’s notably unhelpful for the Iranians to be allowing weapons of those types to be crossing the border.”
This created problems for the Iraqi government, coalition forces and the international community. “And ultimately, it’s a problem for Iran,” he said.
Asked if that amounted to an implied threat, Mr Rumsfeld said: “I don’t imply threats. You know that.”
Uh, oh, Tehran. Take note..
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.