US finds 'Iran-made' arms in Iraq

The arms were found in the Shia village of Jadidah

The US military in Iraq says it has uncovered a large cache of weapons, many of them made in Iran.

The collection of shells, rockets and materials to make armour-piercing bombs was found in the village of Jadidah, 25km (15 miles) north of Baghdad.

A US spokesman said there was no way to "tie the weapons to any government".

This month the US presented evidence it said proved the "highest levels" of Iran's government were supplying arms used by Shia militants in Iraq.

However, the most senior US military officer, Gen Peter Pace, later appeared to contradict the claim, saying there was no proof the Iranian government had directly armed Shia groups.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini called the US allegations baseless propaganda.

Tank-piercing

The US military said the latest cache of 120mm mortar rounds, 122mm rockets and bags of C4 plastic explosives were of Iranian origin.

Maj Jeremy Siegrist said the cache was found near a village stronghold of the Shia Mehdi Army of leading cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

But Maj Siegrist said: "I don't think there's any way this can be tied to a government."

Earlier this month US defence officials in Baghdad told reporters that the Iranians were supplying sophisticated bombs capable of penetrating the armour of a US-made Abrams tank.

Gen Pace, while saying the arms were Iranian in origin, said he could not say whether Tehran was complicit.

The White House stood by the original claim, saying the weapons were being moved into Iraq by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, or al-Quds force.