"I would say given the quantities we're seeing it is difficult to believe it is associated with smuggling or the drug business, or that it's taking place without the knowledge of the Iranian government," Gates told reporters.

Gates said he had not seen specific intelligence of Iranian involvement, but the latest analysis was based "on the weapons themselves and the explosives that have been seized."

Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns went even further in an interview Wednesday with CNN, charging there is "irrefutable evidence" that Iranians are transferring arms to the Taliban.

"It's certainly coming from the government of Iran. It's coming from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard corps command, which is a basic unit of the Iranian government," Burns said.

The United States has long accused Iran's Qods Force, an arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, of arming and training Shiite extremist groups in Iraq.

But in recent weeks US military officials have said Iranian-made weapons, including armor piercing explosives known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, have also turned up in Afghanistan.

EFPs have been used with devastating effect in Iraq against US forces, raising fears about their use by the Taliban, which already has embraced suicide attacks, roadside bombings and other tactics favored by Iraqi insurgents.

"My impression is that the weapons are going to the Taliban," Gates said.

However, Gates said he was not aware of any evidence that the Qods Force is operating in Afghanistan, and he expressed puzzlement over Iranian intentions.

"The irony is the Afghan governments and Iranian governments have pretty good relations," he said.

"So whether Iran is playing both sides of the streets, hedge their bets, what their motives are, causing trouble for us, I don't know," he said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week said Kabul's relations with Tehran had never been better, and said there was no evidence of Iranian involvement in supplying the Taliban.

Gates spoke after talks here with US commanders ahead of a NATO defense minister's meeting in Brussels that will take up NATO-led operations against a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan.

He is expected to press NATO allies to provide more troops and equipment to the 37,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

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