Iran on Thursday categorically denied accusations by London of being behind the marked increase in violence against British troops in southern Iraq, which has claimed the lives of eight British soldiers this year, DPA reported. "Britain's scandals in Iraq have made London make up this lie," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi told state news agency IRNA. Wednesday, a senior British official accused the Iranian Revolutionary Guards of being "in active collusion in the smuggling of weapons into Iraq". Assefi called on the British side to present documents to back up their accusations, doubting, however, that there were any. The spokesman said that as Britain was the cause of continued insecurity and instability in Iraq, now London was trying to blame others for the crisis. He stressed that Iran's policy toward Iraq was positive and constructive and approved by all Iraqi officials.
