KurdistanObserver.com   Iranian Officer Arrested for Allegedly Smuggling Roadside Bombs Into Iraq Thursday, 20 Sep 2007 AP An Iranian officer accused of smuggling powerful roadside bombs into Iraq for the elite Quds force was arrested Thursday, the U.S. military said. The suspect — a member of the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards — was detained in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, the military said. He was allegedly involved in transporting roadside bombs, including armor-piercing explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, into Iraq, according to a statement. It said intelligence reports also indicated he was involved in the infiltration and training of foreign fighters in Iraq.   Brig. Saif al-Den Ahmed, the city's security chief, said the Iranian was arrested during a pre-dawn raid by U.S. troops at the Sulaimaniyah Palace Hotel. The local Kurdish-led government was not notified of the operation in advance, he added. A Kurdish official in the city, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that initially three Iranians were arrested but two were later released. The three included the mayor of Qasr-e Shirin, a city close to the Iraqi border; the head of an office in the city that gives permits to Iranian merchants traveling to northern Iraq; and a merchant, the official said. The official, from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, said the person kept in custody was the head of the merchant permits office. He did not identify any of the Iranians. Officials have said the Bush administration is expected to soon blacklist the Quds force as a terrorist organization, subjecting part of the vast military operation to financial sanctions. The move would be in response to Iranian action in Iraq and elsewhere.       Copyright © 2002, Kurdistan Observer