U.S. has no evidence proving Iran’s aid to Iraqi militia: Thomas Nides

TEHRAN, July 12 (MNA) – Thomas Nides, the United States deputy secretary of state, has accused Iran of assisting Iraqi militia groups against the U.S. forces based in Iraq, but admitted that the U.S. has no conclusive evidence supporting the claim.

Nides made the remarks on Sunday in a brief interview with the Fars News Agency on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the first U.S. consulate in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

The U.S. official claimed that the U.S. is fully aware that Iran is providing military aid to Iraqi militia groups which are taking action against the U.S. troops.

“We have received information that Iran is helping the militia,” he said.

But the U.S. government has no conclusive evidence proving Iran is arming the militia, he added.

A number of U.S. officials including former defense secretary Robert Gates, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen, and newly appointed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta have also accused Iran of supplying Iraqi militia with weapons.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Panetta said on Sunday that weapons supplied by Iran are behind a rash of attacks against American forces in Iraq, part of an escalating campaign of violence ahead of the planned U.S. troop withdrawal by the end of the year.

“We’ve seeing more of those weapons going in from Iran, and they’ve really hurt us,” he said.