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Editor’s Note: Lawfare’s Board of Directors has published a post regarding this article and our editorial standards here. In the United States, the latest Iranian protests have sparked a kind of debate in which we argue fervently about whether the U.S. should tweet its support or just shut up. At the risk of making the Trump administration look moderate, I think we can choose between more than waving our hands and sitting on them. Remember, when the Iranian regime decided it didn’t like U.S. activities in Iraq, it found considerably more direct ways to express its disapproval. It just started...

Government report ties Iran to deaths of nearly 200 troops Nearly 200 U.S. troops have been killed and nearly 1,000 injured by Iranian-made explosives in Iraq, according to new disclosures from a partially declassified report conducted by U.S. Central Command and described by sources to the Washington Free Beacon.The number of U.S. deaths resulting from Iranian terrorism were revealed for the first time on Wednesday by Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) during a hearing focusing on the Obama administration's failure to prosecute terrorists directly responsible for the deaths of Americans.At least 196 U.S. service members fighting in Iraq were killed...

EFP cache found in Warij Saturday, 03 May 2008 Multi-National Corps – Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory APO AE 09342 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RELEASE No. 20080503-10 May 3, 2008 EFP cache found in Warij FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – Coalition forces found a weapons cache of explosively formed penetrators in the southern Baghdad community of Warij May 2. Soldiers from 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division were on patrol in Warij when they discovered four EFPs hidden in a closet shelf in a factory office. A brand new 107 mm rocket was...

ARLINGTON, Va. — A U.S. commander in Baghdad said he has seen no signs that Iranian-backed Shiite extremists are curtailing their attacks against coalition forces. Known as “special groups,” the Shiite extremists receive “funding, support and training” from Iran and operate out of Sadr City, said Army Col. Don Farris, commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. “While the violence is down, I remain very concerned in our sector about these special groups,” Farris said. “They’re very lethal. They’re organized. They’re sophisticated, and I have not seen that their operations have declined or diminished in any way...

Coalition forces have seized the largest cache ever found in Iraq of explosively formed penetrators, an especially lethal type of bomb, according to military officials. Acting on a tip from a local Iraqi, soldiers descended on a home in Sa’ada Village and discovered a stockpile that included 124 fully-assembled EFPs, according to a release issued Wednesday by Multi–National Division–North. The cache also included 159 copper disks, a component of EFPs, 600 pounds of C4 and other explosive materials, 100 mortar rounds, 31 rockets (107 mm), two mortar tubes and 20 claymore-type mines, the release stated. “I was worried that the...

Iran has recruited its own network of Iraqi Shi'ite extremists to use armour-piercing weapons against U.S. and coalition forces rather than against Sunni rivals, current and former intelligence officials say. The secretive Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards has circumvented Shi'ite organisations like the Mehdi Army to enlist individual militants and train them in the use of explosively formed penetrators, the officials said. The weapons, known as EFPs, have killed 170 U.S.-led coalition troops, according to the Pentagon. U.S. officials have said these weapons have come into greater use over the past year. "The purpose appears not to be to...

WASHINGTON - Skeptical congressional Democrats said Sunday the Bush administration should move cautiously before accusing Iran of fomenting a campaign of violence against U.S. troops in Iraq. The members of Congress spoke on the morning talk shows as the U.S. military said it believes orders came from the highest levels of the Iranian government to send components for sophisticated roadside bombs in Iraq. The military told reporters in Baghdad that between June 2004 and last week, more than 170 Americans had been killed by the bombs, which the military calls "explosively formed projectiles." Those weapons are capable of destroying an...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. military officials on Sunday accused the highest levels of the Iranian leadership of arming Shiite militants in Iraq with sophisticated armor-piercing roadside bombs that have killed more than 170 American forces. The military command in Baghdad denied, however, that any newly smuggled Iranian weapons were behind the five U.S. military helicopter crashes since Jan. 20 — four that were shot out of the sky by insurgent gunfire. A fifth crash has tentatively been blamed on mechanical failure. In the same period, two private security company helicopters also have crashed but the cause was unclear. The deadly...