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US: Too soon to trust Iran
02/12/2007 22:50 - (SA)
Baghdad - Although violence levels were down in Iraq, it was too early to trust that Iran was no longer trying to destabilise its war-torn neighbour, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Sunday.
"I think it's noteworthy that Iran has said (it is) not engaging in these types of activities but given past experience by Iran both here and elsewhere in the region I don't think we can be complacent about this," Negroponte told a news conference in Baghdad.
Iraqi government spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters in Baghdad last month that Iran appeared to be holding to its pledge to halt the flow of weapons and people across the border -- echoing comments by US commanders.
The change, Dabbagh said, came when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki received a pledge from Iranian leaders during a visit to Iran in August that they would clamp down on cross-border flows of weapons, money and people. EFPs
Negroponte said Washington recognised that there had been a decline in the number of incidents in Iraq associated with explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) and other types of lethal military equipment US commanders say are linked to Iran.
"But there have been people in Iraq who have been detained who recently had military training in Iran," he said.
"I think it is too early to conclude that Iran has as a matter of deliberate policy stopped engaging in these activities," he added.
"I think the situation bears continued vigilance and I think we will have to wait to see if more evidence and more indications materialise to suggest that Iran has in fact made a deliberate change of policy."
Iran's behaviour toward Iraq, he added, "has been quite negative".
- AFP
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