Iraq's Maliki warns US and Iran

Maliki's remarks, in an interview with CNN, came days after it emerged that President George W. Bush had approved US action against Iranian agents in Iraq, whom Washington accuses of arming Shiite militias.

"There is a struggle between Iran and America, and we have told the Iranians and Americans, we know that you have a problem with each other," Maliki said, through a translator.

"But we're asking you please, solve your problems outside of Iraq. We do not want the American forces to take Iraq as a field to attack Iran or Syria, and we will not accept Iran to use Iraq to attack the American forces."

Maliki, who faces extreme skepticism among Bush's critics in the United States over his role in the new US plan to pacify Iraq, said his country had nothing to do with the long diplomatic chill between Tehran and Washington.

"We are ready to pay efforts to solve the problems between them if it is possible," said Maliki.

"We will not let Iran play a role against the American army and not allow America to play a role against the Iranian army. Everyone should respect the sovereignty of Iraq."

US defense officials meanwhile said they were investigating whether Iranian agents were involved in a raid on an Iraqi compound in which five US soldiers were killed.

A senior US defense official said the investigation was not completed and no conclusions have been reached, but suspicion is growing that Iranians were involved in the January 20 raid.

The attack followed a US crackdown on Iranians operating in Iraq, including a US raid in the northern city of Arbil in which five Iranians were detained over protests by Tehran that they were members of its consular staff.

The White House last week confirmed that Bush has authorized US forces to capture or kill Iranian spies or Iranian Revolutionary Guards operating in Iraq.

The number two commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, told USA Today Iran is supplying Iraqi militias with Katyusha rockets, armor-piercing rocket propelled grenades, and the technology and components for armor-piercing shaped explosives.

"We have weapons that we know through serial numbers ... that trace back to Iran," Odierno told the newspaper.

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