Iran denies supplying arms to Iraqi militants

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Monday denied U.S. accusations that it was stoking violence in Iraq by supplying militants with Iranian-made weapons and that those at the "highest levels" of Tehran's government were involved.

U.S.-led forces presented on Sunday what officials said was "a growing body" of evidence of Iranian weapons being used to kill their soldiers. One official said "these activities are coming from the highest levels of the Iranian government."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference: "What was presented is weak proof that even Americans themselves do not believe and is not acceptable."

He said the United States was "designing artificial events" to justify their accusations.

"Iran's senior officials and others do not have anything to do with this issue and other issues. Any interference with Iraq's internal matters will weaken Iraq's government," he said.

Iran routinely denies U.S. charges that it is fanning violence in Iraq, blames the presence of the U.S. occupation for sectarian fighting and says Tehran wants a stable neighbor.

In Sunday's briefing, a senior defense official from the U.S.-led Multinational Force in Baghdad said 170 coalition forces had been killed by Iranian-made roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) smuggled into Iraq.

The officials showed journalists fragments of what they said were Iranian-manufactured weapons, including one part of an EFP -- which is strong enough to penetrate the armor of an Abrams tank -- and tail fins from 81 mm and 60 mm mortar bombs.

The officials said they were showing the evidence out of concern about the "vast increase" in sophisticated weapons used by Iraqi militants against U.S. forces in 2006.