WASHINGTON -- US military officials in Baghdad, presenting long-awaited evidence that Iran has been providing weaponry to Iraqi militants, said yesterday that Iranian security forces linked to the "highest levels" of the Iranian government have been smuggling explosives into Iraq for at least the past two years.

The officials , who refused to be identified at the press conference, said the Iranian-supplied munitions had killed more than 170 coalition troops and wounded more than 620 others.

They said the weapons were brought into Iraq under the direction of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which reports to Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The officials said they found no concrete military links to Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"The supreme leader's side of the government is the side of the government that we are most concerned about, because they are the policy making side of the government," a US military analyst said in Baghdad. "The Quds Force basically takes directions from the supreme leader."...