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KYRA PHILLIPS: Deadly arsenal, explosive claims.
You're seeing powerful bombs that can punch through
the toughest armor. They targeted coalition forces in
Iraq, but the U.S. says they came from next door.
Armed with these pictures, senior defense officials
are accusing an elite Iranian military force of
arming Iraqi Shiite groups.
CNN's Michael Ware is in Baghdad with more --
Michael.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra. What we
had is the U.S. military, through three officials who
could not be taped or named -- a senior defense
official and a defense intelligence analyst and an
explosives expert -- paint the picture of what they
say Iran is doing here in Iraq.
They say that the elite Quds Force from the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards Corps is directing a
sophisticated program that is funneling weapons to
Shia militia and insurgent groups and is killing U.S.
and British troops.
The focus of this particular briefing was the supply
of those weapons. In particular, the explosively
formed penetrator or EFP. This is the most lethal
roadside bomb that you see here in the war in Iraq.
It's the one that punches through American armor, and
indeed, U.S. military intelligence says 170 British
and American troops have died as a result of this
Iranian-supplied weapon since it first appeared in
May 2004.
They also talked about the supply of all sorts of
weapons, including mortars exactly like these ones.
Indeed, the analyst held these kind of mortars up at
the briefing. CNN obtained these last year, and we
aired them at that time.
These, say U.S. military intelligence, come from
Iran. The caliber, the assembly and its geometry all
indicators that it comes from Tehran. Essentially
they're saying that Iran is fighting a surrogate war
with America here in Iraq. Ironically, precisely what
the CIA did with the Mujahideen when they fought the
Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: You know, Michael, this is actually the
first time we're actually seeing something for real.
You've actually got a piece of the weaponry. But
we've heard these accusations before. Why is the U.S.
laying out this case now? And why are we actually
getting visuals from reporters like you?
WARE: Well, that's an interesting question. I'm sure
it's not coincidental. I mean, this evidence has been
out there for two or three years. I mean, we've been
coming across materials like this for at least that
long. And even in the military's audio-visual
display, some of the examples they showed dated back
two years. So this evidence has definitely been out
there.
Now, for example, in the past, when you asked U.S.
military intelligence about materials like this,
which are here in the country, clearly, having been
made in 2006, they're not being made here. They
crossed the border. In the past, officials would say,
"Well, they've come from Iran, but we can't say
whether the government did it or not."
Well, now they're saying, yes, we can. They're saying
that in Iran munitions like these are so well
controlled you just can't ship them wholesale across
the border without government complicity. And they're
saying we have the evidence that it's the Quds Force
indeed, that's doing it.
PHILLIPS: All right. Michael Ware live from Baghdad,
thank you.