American forces have once again accused Iran of providing sophisticated weapons and other assistance to Iraqi insurgents who are using the weapons to kill American and Iraqi security forces.

Senior defense officials from the U.S.-led Multinational Force in Baghdad said that they have got evidence that over 170 coalition forces died due to bombs manufactured in Iran known as explosively formed penetrators (EFPs). They added that these type of explosives are only manufactured in Iran and no other country produces them. Some of the explosives were sophisticated enough to pierce the armor of an Abrams tank.

"The weapons had characteristics unique to being manufactured in Iran ... Iran is the only country in the region that produces these weapons", said a senior defense official. The United States has always maintained that the rise in number of attacks could be only possible with the insurgents getting outside assistance and in the last few weeks the American forces have accused Iran of providing it, which has been denied by Tehran.

In a rally to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the American soldiers of fanning tensions between the two religious groups, adding that Iran was a friend of Iraq.

"We are a friend of Iraq. We have common culture and history, and Iraq's stability, security and integrity, means Iran's stability, security and integrity. You send a message to us asking for help to leave Iraq, but you didn't listen to our advice and instead arrested a few people", he said.