Iranian denies training Iraqi hit squads

LONDON, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Iranian special forces played no role in training Shiite militias in southern Iraq, a former Iranian military officer said in regard to U.S. claims.

A source referred to by London's Asharq al-Awsat newspaper as Brig. Gen. Al-Haj Reza, a pseudonym, denied claims by senior U.S. officials that the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Lebanese Hezbollah trained Shiite hit squads in southern Iraq.

Reza said Iranian intelligence officials and the Quds Force, however, have marked several party leaders in southern Iraq who are "permanent enemies" of Iran and put "their elimination" at the top of the unit's agenda.

Clarifying U.S. allegations, the former Iranian officer said the Revolutionary Guard had trained several Shiite fighters who fled to Iran following the U.S. invasion. Many had come from the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Shiite Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, and Quwaat al-Shahid al-Sadr, a secret militia affiliated with the Dawa Party of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Reza said most of the Iranian-trained fighters returned to Iraq following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and melded into conventional security forces.