![\"Iran](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/07\/odierno.jpg\" "\\"Iran")
AFP — Iran is supporting three Shiite extremist groups in Iraq that have been attempting to attack US bases, General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, said Wednesday.<\/p>\nAFP — Iran is supporting three Shiite extremist groups in Iraq that have been attempting to attack US bases, General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
For the past four years the US military has blamed Iran for supporting violent anti-US groups operating in Iraq, but has been unable to establish a clear link with the government in Tehran.<\/p>\n
"The Iranians… continue to fund, train and provide weapons and ammunition to Shiite extremist groups," Odierno told reporters here.<\/p>\n
The Iranians have "gone to a more sophisticated program with a smaller set of extremists" and are now focusing on three groups, which he identified as Ketaib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq (League of the Righteous), and the Promise Day Brigade.<\/p>\n
"It's very difficult to say if the extremist groups are directly connected to the Iranian government," he said.<\/p>\n
"But we do know that many of them live in Iran, many of them get trained in Iran, and many of them get weapons from Iran," he said.<\/p>\n
Odierno said US officials believe that Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force is involved in training and funding the groups.<\/p>\n
Ketaib Hezbollah detonated a truck loaded with explosives at a joint US-Iraqi patrol post in 2007, Odierno said, but failed in two attempts earlier this year at a similar bombing.<\/p>\n
On July 13 Odierno detailed a plot in which he said Ketaib Hezbollah planned an attack in recent weeks, prompting the US army to increase its security measures.<\/p>\n
The groups are targeting US bases in Iraq that are not withdrawing soldiers, and will not influence the pace of the US withdrawal from Iraq, he said.<\/p>\n
According to US polls cited by Odierno, 85 percent of Iraqis reject Iranian interference in Iraqi politics.<\/p>\n
US combat troops are set to leave Iraq by September 1, but a 50,000-strong training and advisory force will remain until December 2011.<\/p>\n