Iran supporting Iraqi radicals, Arab dailies say

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JERUSALEM -- Iran is training and committing funds to Shi'ite radicals in Iraq even as it helps the United States to tamp down the latest anti-American insurgency, according to Arabic-language news reports.

A delegation headed by senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official Hussein Sedeqi arrived yesterday in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf to try to negotiate an end to resistance from the radical Shi'ite militia headed by Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr.

But Iran, meanwhile, has maintained three "military camps and training centers" on the Iran-Iraq border used by members of Sheik al-Sadr's Mahdi's Army, according to the daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat (the Middle East).

The London newspaper, which last year was given an exclusive interview with President Bush, reported recently that 800 to 1,200 trainees have been taught guerrilla tactics at the camps as well as bomb-making, use of small arms and espionage.

Another London-based Arabic daily, Al Hayat, reported that Iran has engaged in "a vigorous effort to build bridges to various forces in Iraq," according to the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which translates Arabic news articles into English.

These efforts include "material and logistical aid to parties other than the Shi'ites" as well as "the traditional Iranian influence in Iraq's Shi'ite religious seminaries and in its Marja'iya [religious] institutions," according to the article.

It quoted Iraqi security sources as saying the recent Shi'ite offensive began after a U.S. decision to oust Hassan Kazemi Qumi, the charge d'affairs at the Iran Embassy in Baghdad.

The Washington Times last week described Sheik al-Sadr, who sent his 3,000-strong force to capture several towns and cities across southern Iraq, as an Iranian surrogate.

That assessment was endorsed unequivocally by authoritative Israeli analysts in interviews this week.

Menashe Amir, the head of the Israel Broadcasting Authority's Persian language service, said Tehran's purpose was to "convince the Americans that their objectives will not be achieved unless they turn to Iran for help."