The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, has stepped up accusations that Iran is inciting violence in Iraq. Over the weekend Petraeus accused the Iranian ambassador in Iraq of being a member of the Quds force, a unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Petraeus provided no evidence to support his claim. Petraeus said, “There should be no question about the malign, lethal involvement and activities of the Quds force in this country.” Last month Petraeus accused Iran of providing arms to Shiite militias in Iraq. Petraeus has been accused of ratcheting up the rhetoric against Tehran in preparation for military strikes in Iran. On Friday, in an interview with the Arabic network Al-Arabiya, President Bush dismissed reports that the U.S. is preparing plans to possibly attack Iran. Bush called the reports “empty propaganda” and “baseless,” but he didn’t rule out a U.S. strike.

President Bush: “I of course said all options are on the table, but I made a pledge to the American people that we will work diplomatically to solve the problem, and that’s why you see us at the United Nations working with the EU countries and China and Russia to send that clear message and that we are going to continue to impose sanctions and make it harder for the Iranian government to operate in the world until they change their mind.”