Report: Iran aid to Iraq questionable

BAQUBA, Iraq, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Despite mounting U.S. and British claims Iran is supplying insurgents in Iraq with weaponry, there's scant evidence of it, The Los Angeles Times reported.

The newspaper interviewed commanders in Iraqi provinces along the eastern border with Iran, and found that only Iranian small arms had been recovered during raids.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been echoing U.S. President George Bush, who said this month that Iran was providing "advanced weaponry and training to our enemies."

In eastern Iraq, U.S. Army Col. David Sutherland told the Times the few weapons recovered have been anything but advanced -- mortars and anti-tank mines.

Similar accusations that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction were made by Bush in justifying the March 2003 invasion and U.S. Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said he's concerned about the latest administration allegations.