Top U.S. general criticizes Iran's role in Iraq

The top U.S. commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus accused Iran on Wednesday of seeking to "create a Hezbollah-like force" in Iraq to exert Teheran's influence there. However, Petraeus denied that he was preparing ground for a U.S. attack on Iran. In a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington after two days of testimony on Capitol Hill, Petraeus said Iran has contributed to sophisticated attacks in Iraq that otherwise would not be possible, including strikes with armor-piercing "explosively formed projectiles" and 240mm rockets. "The evidence is very, very clear," he said, citing documents discovered during the capture in March of Qais Khazali, a Shiite militant with ties to the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the arrest of a deputy commander of Hezbollah, a militant Lebanese Shiite group. Petraeus said the evidence links Iran to an attack in Karbala in January that resulted in the deaths of five U.S. soldiers. However, when asked whether his statements about Iran could be viewed as part of a campaign to build toward an attack, Petraeus said, "I'm not blaming Iran for all that's gone wrong in Iraq."