BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, said Iran continues to support Iraqi insurgents and Syria is allowing foreign fighters passage into Iraq.
Gen. David Petraeus speaks to CNN's Kyra Phillips on Wednesday in Baghdad, Iraq. "We are concerned very much about the lethal accelerants, as they are called, that do come from Iran," he said. "And we appropriately raise that to those who have a broader perspective, then, who have a regional and then a global look. "And the same way that we do about what comes through Syria."
The general's comments about Iran come just a day after Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said there are continued fears that Iran may be training Iraqi extremists in Iran and sending them back to Iraq.
McCain expressed concern about a large cache of explosives found in Iraq and hinted that they may have been sent from Iran.
In January, Petraeus said attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq with bombs believed linked to Iran — known as explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) — had risen sharply after several months of decline. But that came after several months of decline in Iranian involvement.
The Bush administration and the military have long maintained that Iranian agents, particularly the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, have been arming and training Iraqi insurgents.