The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, said the U.S. political transition will be “extraordinarily challenging,” particularly as the military is engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan and faces interference in both countries from Iran.
“Iran is not going away,” Mullen said. “We need to be strong and really in the deterrent mode, to not be very predictable” regarding Iran, he said in a meeting with editors and reporters at The Washington Post.
In a wide-ranging interview, Mullen detailed how Iran continues to supply weapons, training and financing to insurgents not only in Iraq but also in Afghanistan. He said the Iranian involvement with Taliban fighters “mirrors what they are doing with Iraqis,” although on a smaller scale.
“There’s training going on, weapons which are entering,” as well as technology — assistance that is “very well connected” with the Taliban leadership, particularly in western Afghanistan, he said.
Mullen said recent unrest in the southern Iraqi city of Basra demonstrated that Iran is “very interwoven into southern Iraq in ways that had not been highlighted,” adding that “they want to have a weak Iraq.”