USA keeps mum on covert ops in Iran
The White House has refused to comment on a recent report of covert US operations against Iran aimed at destabilizing Tehran's leadership.
A recent New Yorker magazine report by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that US Congressional leaders quietly agreed late last year to President George W. Bush's $400-million funding request for a major escalation in secret operations in Iran.
When asked to comment on the report, the White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, "I couldn't comment either way."
Perino went on to dismiss the possibility of a US military action against Iran over the country's nuclear program before President Bush leaves office in January 2009.
"President Bush is singularly focused on trying to solve this issue diplomatically," Perino said.
The New Yorker report also stated that American Special Forces have been conducting cross-border operations into Iran from southern Iraq since last year.
US intelligence agencies have also been encouraging and funding dissident tribal groups in the country's border regions to carry out acts of terrorism inside the country, with Jundullah, which operates in southeastern Iran along its common borders with Pakistan, being the most notorious among them, the report adds.
However, US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker earlier on Sunday dismissed the report on CNN television, saying, "I can tell you flatly that US forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran."
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