Reuters reported: The U.S. military said on Tuesday it had detained a senior journalist at one of Iraq’s biggest television stations because he may have information about “Iranian-sponsored criminal activity”.

The U.S. military accuses Iran of financing, arming and training rogue Shi’ite militia groups that attack U.S. and Iraqi forces, a charge Tehran denies. The military has intensified operations to kill or capture members of these groups.

Hafedh al-Beshara, news editor and manager of political programming of the al-Furat television station, was detained along with his son, who is accused of belonging to one of the Iranian-backed groups, in a raid on his home last week.

The U.S. military initially said Beshara was being held after an unauthorised machinegun was found in his home.

In a statement to Reuters on Tuesday, U.S. military spokesman Major Brad Leighton said: “Coalition forces assessed (Beshara) to have key information on Iranian-sponsored criminal activity and he was detained.”

He said the journalist would be questioned in the next 48-72 hours to determine the level of his involvement.

The military said in an earlier statement that Beshara’s son was a suspected intelligence operative for the “special groups”, jargon for the Iranian-backed cells, and had helped in attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Furat is owned by the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the biggest Shi’ite party in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government. Its leader is Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, one of Iraq’s most influential politicians, who has been courted by Washington and met President George W. Bush at the White House in November.