Officials Go 'Off the Record' on Iran-Iraq Arms

By Steve Inskeep,

Jamie Tarabay

Published February 12, 2007 at 5:00 AM CST

The Bush administration continues to make a case that Iran is arming groups inside Iraq with sophisticated weaponry used to kill Americans. Who is getting the weapons and are they to blame for a sudden increase in downed U.S. aircraft?

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry said Monday that Iran is not arming Shiite militants in Iraq and said the U.S. has a long history of fabricating evidence.

Fragments of powerful armor-piercing bombs, shown to reporters Sunday, constitute "weak proof that even Americans themselves do not believe," the ministry said.

NPR News

Steve Inskeep

Steve Inskeep is a host of NPR's Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.

Jamie Tarabay

After reporting from Iraq for two years as NPR's Baghdad Bureau Chief, Jamie Tarabay is now embarking on a two year project reporting on America's Muslims. The coverage will take in the country's approx 6 million Muslims, of different ethnic, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, and the issues facing their daily lives as Americans.