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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The quantity of Iranian bomb-making components
being found in Iraq is increasing despite a fall in attacks and 20
Iranian-trained agents are still operating south of Baghdad, a top
U.S. general said on Sunday.
Extensive Iranian influence in Iraq remained evident, said Major-
General Rick Lynch, despite signs of a possible easing of tensions
between Washington and Tehran over security in Iraq.
"Iranian influence is dominant at many levels," said Lynch, whose area
of command extends from Baghdad's southern suburbs south through Sunni
Arab insurgent strongholds to the major Shi'ite cities of Kerbala and
Najaf.
Lynch said his troops were chasing 20 "targets" he identified as Iraqi
Shi'ites who were agents for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps's
(IRGC) elite Qods Force.
"They were trained in Iran and they're conducting operations in our
battle space," Lynch told reporters. "They're Iraqis but they're IRGC
surrogates and they're still out there."
Lynch said in August that military intelligence suggested there were
about 50 IRGC troops in southern Iraq training Shi'ite militias in the
use of mortars and rockets.
His latest comments came despite an apparent softening of rhetoric by
U.S. officials in Baghdad towards Iran.
Washington accuses Tehran of arming, training and funding Shi'ite
militias in Iraq, charges Iran denies, but U.S. ambassador to Iraq
Ryan Crocker late last month noted several positive developments in
Iran's involvement in Iraq.