Britain: Iran “provided the technology” to kill British troops in Basra

In what might or might not be an escalation of rhetoric between the current occupying forces in Iraq and Iran, British officials today accused Iranian Revolutionary Guards of supplying material to Iraqi insurgents in Southern Iraq… material that was then used to build the bomb that recently killed a number of UK soldiers.

From the BBC

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the technology had come from Hezbollah in Lebanon via Iran and produced an “explosively shaped projectile”.


One of their leaders, Ahmed al-Fartusi, was arrested by British forces recently and was “currently enjoying British hospitality”, as the official put it.


Hopefully this is just rhetoric and another avenue for the UK to put pressure on Iran to comply with the IAEA and avoid referral to the UNSC. The likelihood, of Iran actually doing that, though, is probably pretty minimal. So what this really is an official confirmation that the political and military situation in Iraq has deteriorated so much that the Iranians are now freely supporting whomever they wish to “win” in Iraq. Could it be considered a “proxy war”? No, I don’t think so… but the possibility of that happening seems to be growing more likely as time goes on and the situation in Iraq continues on its’ current path.