Iraqi security forces have arrested an alleged "senior" Iranian commando from the elite Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force at Baghdad International Airport, the U.S. military said Wednesday. The military said they suspected the man of "involvement in facilitating Iranian weapons shipments into Iraq" under the cover of working for an organization involved in the restoration of Iraqi religious sites. The man is alleged to have used the organization as a front in order to bring weapons into Iraq concealed in shipments of building materials, the military said in a statement released late Tuesday.
The U.S. military has long accused Iran's Quds Force of arming, training, and funding Iraqi militiamen to stoke the sectarian violence that has convulsed the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, charges Tehran has denied.
The statement also said the man was carrying an "unspecified amount" of cocaine.