"Iranians are beaming in radio programs trying to stir up people in Iraq to oppose the coalition," claimed Rumsfeld

BAGHDAD, May 30 ( IslamOnline.net & News Agencies ) - Amid mounting criticism over its failure, and sometime inaction, to restore law and order in Iraq, the U.S.-led occupation power claimed Friday, May 30, that foreign hardliners were crossing into Iraq to destabilize the country, an allegation repudiated by the main Shiite group, the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution (SAIRI).

On its Baghdad radio station, the occupation authority argued "fundamentalists under foreign command have entered Iraq with aggressive intent and it is in the interest of the Iraqi people to help the coalition," in hunting them down, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

It asked Iraqis to inform the occupation power of the names and whereabouts of any infiltrators in their areas and said those who come forward should have no fear of speaking out.

"If necessary the coalition can protect you and your family. Do what is right for your family, your neighbors and your future," the announcement said.

"Untrue"

The SAIRI spokesman in the city of Baqubah, the capital of Diyala province along the border with Iran, branded as "completely untrue," the U.S. accusations.

"We're all Iraqis and those who have come from Iran are sons of the country," said the spokesman, who declined to give his name.

SAIRI, a Shiite group that was based in Tehran until after Saddam Hussein's ouster, has become a major political and social force since its return to Iraq.

The spokesman, whose group holds a seat on a U.S.-sanctioned seven-member leadership council working with the occupation power to establish a future Iraqi government, said SAIRI had suffered "brutal" treatment at the hands of U.S. forces.

"We are not terrorists and we don't understand why the Americans are so hard with us," he complained.

"Ten days ago, coalition troops asked all political parties set up in government buildings to leave their sites but with us they used force," charged SAIRI spokesman.

He said Anglo-American troops had killed a member of the group and arrested around 40 others.

"We were surprised because they gave us no advance warning to leave. There are 19 people still in prison," he said.

The U.S.-British forces have stepped up pressure on Iran in recent days and the top British official in Iraq, John Sawers, told British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was visiting the southern city of Basra Thursday, May 29, that the Islamic regime was active there.

"There is clear evidence of the Iranians trying to put in place a mechanism for them to exert influence," he claimed.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld charged Thursday that Iran was trying to stir up opposition to U.S. and British forces in Iraq with radio broadcasts and by sending Revolutionary Guards into the country.

Washington claims Iran is supporting the SAIRI’s armed wing, the Badr Brigade, in a bid to allegedly undermine the Anglo-American attempt to establish law and order, an accusation denied by Tehran.

Rumsfeld blamed the uncertain security situation in Iraq in part on the Iranian regime, claiming the presence of Revolutionary Guards was "a major source of adverse influence.

"The Iranians are beaming in radio programs trying to stir up people in Iraq to oppose the coalition. How successful they will be is not something we can measure in advance."

The U.S. turned up more heat on Iran Tuesday, May 27, with serious warnings over Iran’s alleged harboring of fugitive Al-Qaeda leaders, intervention in Iraq and quest for nuclear arms.

Iran had repudiated claims of harboring key members of Al-Qaeda, with Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi asserting that "Al-Qaeda members have been arrested in Iran, but the persons imprisoned are not important leaders."

War Not Over

A U.S. commander in Iraq admitted the war was not over, with Anglo-American forces still fighting organized remnants of the deposed regime, BBC Online News Service reported Friday.

Lieutenant-General David McKiernan said more forces may have to be deployed on combat operations around the country.

"Decisive combat operations against military formations have ended, but these contacts we're having right now are in a combat zone, and it is war, and they are members of [Saddam Hussein's] regime that must be removed," he said.

McKiernan added that more soldiers might be deployed on combat operations though he did not believe the recent escalation of attacks would become a trend.

His assessment was echoed by the commander of U.S. marines in Iraq, Major-General Jim Mattis, who claimed there were still some "regime thugs" operating, but "they are not significant and are relatively easy to take out".

The BBC's Pentagon correspondent, Nick Childs, says the continuing level of attacks is causing concern among politicians.

He says military chiefs may not be able to bring units home as soon as they had wished, and the battle-hardened Third Infantry Division, which had been hoping to head home, looks as if it will have to stay on.

There have been a spate of attacks on U.S. troops in recent days but most have been in Sunni Muslim areas.