From Herald Wire Services

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Tuesday that Iranians in Cuba, not the Cuban government, jammed U.S. satellite TV broadcasts critical of Tehran's Islamic government in July.

''We approached the government of Cuba about some jamming that was emanating from Cuba. It was not the government of Cuba, it was another entity, and it has ceased,'' Armitage told the Senate Foreign Relations committee in Washington. Asked about Cuban government claims that the jamming was carried out by Iranian diplomats in Havana, he added, `Yes it was.''

U.S. broadcasters expressed skepticism after the Cuban government said in August that it had not known that an Iranian diplomatic facility in Cuba had been jamming Farsi-language TV broadcasts by the U.S. government and three Los Angeles-based stations that oppose the Islamic government.

The type of equipment needed for such jamming is not widely available and unlikely to have escaped the notice of Cuba's security services, the broadcasters said at the time. The jamming was detected July 5 and lasted about six days.