The U.S. military has presented evidence that it says shows Iranian intelligence agents are providing weapons and training to both Sunni and Shi'ite insurgents in Iraq.
A military spokesman, Major General William Caldwell, showed weapons at a briefing in Baghdad Wednesday that he said came from Iran.
The spokesman said interviews with suspected insurgents also showed that Iran is training Iraqi fighters in assembling and using sophisticated roadside bombs that can penetrate armor - explosively formed penetrators or EFPs.
On the political front, the political movement of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has threatened to pull out of the Iraqi government to press its demand for a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
Sadr's political movement said the government is ignoring what it called the will of the people in refusing to support a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
In other news, Iraqi authorities say 20 militants were killed in Tuesday's fighting between Sunni militants and U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad's Fadhil neighborhood.
The U.S. military said 16 American soldiers were lightly wounded in the day-long fighting.
News reports described the fighting as the most intense since U.S. and Iraqi forces began a massive security operation in Baghdad in mid-February.
Separately, the U.S. military said coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained 13 suspects in the Arab Jabour region during a five-day operation, which ended Tuesday.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
