Top US General Martin Dempsey, the likely next Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, today threatened unspecified “reactions” from the United States against Iran to punish the nation because violence is rising in neighboring Iraq.

The comments, made to a Senate committee, reiterated the claims that Iran is “sponsoring” Iraqi Shi’ite militias in the growing number of attacks against US forces. As with past claims by other officials, Dempsey’s claims did not include any actual evidence.

This is entirely unsurprising, as the State Department admitted earlier this month that no evidence to back up the allegations actually exists, and that the claims are simply based around what top officials believe to be true.

The death toll in Iraq has been rising for months, but is just now being felt in rising US death tolls, with last month the deadliest in years. Blaming Iran for problems in the Iraq War is a time-honored tradition among US leaders, and it is unclear how seriously it is taken behind the scenes, particularly in the absence of evidence.