With fighting raging for a fifth day in Najaf, Iraq's interim defense minister yesterday accused Iran of sending weapons to Shi'ite insurgents in the city. Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan, who previously had described Iran as Iraq's "first enemy," made the comments about his country's eastern neighbor during an interview broadcast on the Arab-language television network Al Arabiya. "There are Iranian-made weapons that have been found in the hands of criminals in Najaf who received these weapons from across the Iranian border," Mr. Shaalan said.
Asked whether Iran was still considered the "top enemy" of Iraq, he answered ambiguously. "From far and near, the facts that we have say that what has happened to the Iraqi people is done by the one who is considered the top enemy," he said. "For the first time, the Iraqis see the bodies of children, the body parts of children, the bodies of women and the body parts of women on the street. Yes. This is the truth." Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi said last week that 80 men who fought U.S. forces at a sprawling cemetery in Najaf were Iranian. "There is Iranian support to al-Sadr's group, and this is no secret," he said on Friday. Iran has denied interfering in Iraq. It says it does not allow fighters to cross into Iraq, but it does not rule out that such people might cross the long border illegally.
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