Rumsfeld Says Seized Explosives 'Clearly' From Iran

On Monday, a U.S. Marine died as a result of small arms fire during combat operations in Ramadi, according to a military news release.

The Marine was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).

The death brings the total number of American troops killed in Iraq this month to 37. Of those, 26 were Marines.

The total number of U.S. service members killed since the war began is 1,835. Explosives from Iran seized

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday that weapons recently confiscated in Iraq were "clearly, unambiguously from Iran."

The shipment of sophisticated bombs was confiscated in the past two weeks by U.S. and Iraqi troops in southern Iraq, senior U.S. officials said Monday.
Although he would not comment on whether the Iranian government was directly involved, Rumsfeld said, "it's notably unhelpful for Iranians to be letting those weapons cross the border."

The U.S. officials said the devices were more lethal and more sophisticated than the improvised explosive devices typically used by Iraqi insurgents.

After examining the truckload of devices, intelligence analysts said the explosive parts are similar to those used by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. While there is no evidence Iran's government sanctioned the weapons shipment, the analysts said it may indicate a rogue element inside Iran is making the weapons and trying to ship them to Iraq's insurgents.

Rogue my shiny arse.