Baghdad - Iraq's Minister of Defence Abdel-Qadir al-Ubaydi said a rocket exportable only by states has been found in the southern city of Basra, a newspaper said Monday, while an Iraqi government spokesman sent mixed messages on Iran's role in his country.

In comments published by the Iraqi daily al-Sabah, al-Ubaydi said the Iraqi army found during a search operation north of Basra a 200 millimetre ground-to-ground rocket with a manufacture date of 2007.

"Under international law, only parliaments can approve the sales of this kind of rockets, which are only used in wars and in exceptional circumstances," the minister said.

"I don't known how this rocket has come into the country because it can only be launched from a special base by experts," he added.

Those who exported the rocket to Iraq have not shouldered their human responsibility, al-Ubaydi concluded.

Iraqi troops backed by US-led multinational forces launched a crackdown in Basra on March 25 to uproot Shiite militias and criminal gangs controlling the oil-rich province.

In another development, Iraqi cabinet spokesman, Ali al-Dabagh, sent mixed messages on Iran's role in his country and US accusations that it is training Shiite militias and supplying them with weapons.

At first, al-Dabagh backed away from Iraqi officials' accusations that Tehran is meddling in Iraqi affairs.

Al-Dabagh told reporters Sunday a committee had been set up to examine US accusations that Iran has been arming and training Shiite militias.

But hours later, al-Dabagh retracted what he said and told reporters his remarks were misinterpreted.

The remarks were made a day after senior politicians from Iraq's ruling Shiite alliance discussed the accusations in talks they held in Iran.

Iranian officials denied the accusations, al-Dabagh said.

But the spokesman later told the Washington Post in an interview arranged by a US official that there was "concrete proof" of Tehran's meddling in Iraqi affairs.

The conflicting statements reflect the difficult situation of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who finds himself caught between two powerful allies with conflicting interests and policies: the US and Iran.

Last week, the US military announced that major caches of Iranian arms has been found in Basra and Baghdad during raids on Shiite militiamen from Mahdi Army of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Iraqi National Security Advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubay'I told The Times of London that Iranian-made weapons manufactured in
2008 had been found during a crackdown on Shiite militias in Basra.

But Iran vehemently denied the accusations, which its Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ali Hosseini, described as "undocumented and fabricated allegations." (dpa)