On April 3, at the Department of Defense News Briefing in the Pentagon, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen answered the questions of journalists.

In reply to a question about Iranian regime’s mediating in Basra clashes, Adm. Mullen said: “I don’t have any independent confirmation with respect to the Iranian involvement in terms of brokering any outcome here at all. I can tell you that both broadly and specifically the Iranian involvement, particularly in that part of Iraq, has still not been very helpful. We’re still finding IEDs. We’re finding weapons caches. We’re finding rockets and mortars that are clearly provided by the Iranians. We’re — we’ve captured or killed Iraqis who have recently been trained in Iran. And so the overall thrust with respect to Iran’s support of what’s going on down there is still very negative.”