DUBAI, Aug 21 (AFP) - Iraqi Vice President Ibrahim al-Jafari said Saturday he had no evidence of any Iranian support for radical Shiite militia leader Moqtada Sadr.
"I have not learnt ... of any Iranian support, military or otherwise, for Moqtada Sadr... If I find documents (proving) armed support for Sadr, from Iran or any other country, I will say so ... and I will consider it a red line," Jafari told the Dubai-based al-Arabiya television.
Jafari said he believed the crisis in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, where heavy fighting is taking place, could be solved politically.
"In my opinion, this question could be resolved politically if it had been raised in a political way," he said during a visit to the United Arab Emirates.
For more than two weeks, Sadr's Mehdi Army has been locked in heavy fighting with US-led Iraqi government forces on a mission to crush his militia in the holy city of Najaf.
The US State Department said Thursday it also has no conclusive evidence that Sadr has received arms from Iran, but refused to rule out the possibility.
On August 10, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said the United States was concerned by suggestions that Iran is involved in deadly unrest in Iraq's Shiite holy city of Najaf and maintained it was not in Tehran's interest to foment instability in its neighbor.
But he declined to confirm Iraqi Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan's claim that militiamen loyal to Sadr were receiving weapons from Iran.