US Threatens Firm Response to Iranian Meddling in Iraq

Tension between the United States and Iran rose sharply yesterday when president George Bush warned Tehran that America would respond "firmly" if Tehran stepped up its alleged involvement in violence in Iraq.

The Bush administration is planning to publish shortly what it claims is evidence that Iran is behind some of the violence. The state department spokesman, Sean McCormack, told reporters yesterday that no date had yet been set for publication.

The Bush administration has received a lengthy briefing from the Pentagon about an air strike on Iran but debate is continuing among the inner circle about the options. Two US aircraft carriers were deployed in the Gulf earlier this month and the rhetoric from Washington has become more threatening.

Mr Bush, in an interview with National Public Radio, said yesterday: "If Iran escalates its military action in Iraq to the detriment of our troops and/or innocent Iraqi people, we will respond firmly."

The president's comments came as Iran's ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, in an interview with the New York Times, said Iran was taking steps to greatly expand military and economic ties with Iraq.

He offered increased help with reconstruction and support to Iraq forces in training, equipment and advisers for what he called "the security fight".

His remarks could be interpreted by the Bush administration as an offer of help with reconstruction or as provocation. Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, leaned towards the latter: "We hope Iran plays a constructive role in the region, rather than one that is not being constructive - whether it be in pursuing nuclear weapons or supporting groups that have been committing acts of violence against either US troops, against people within Iraq or destabilising democracies in Afghanistan and Lebanon."

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said: "We've seen little evidence to date [of constructive activities] and frankly all we have seen is evidence to the contrary."

Challenged at a press conference about the credibility of US claims about Iran given the poor track record in the run-up to the war in Iraq, Mr McCormack said that Britain too had been complaining for more than a year about Iranian interference.

The Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan body led by the former US secretary of state James Baker, urged Mr Bush to begin talks with Iran.

But senior members of the Bush administration remain so scarred by the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis that they have rejected this option.