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Iran's continued efforts to prop up Syrian president Bashar Assad's regime is generating concern inside the Pentagon and raising tensions among U.S. allies in the region.

"We have reason to believe Iran continues to assist [the] Assad regime," Defense Department spokesman Capt. John Kirby told reporters on Thursday, during a briefing at the Pentagon. "That needs to stop."

White House spokesman Jay Carney accused Tehran of engaging in "malignant behavior" in its attempts to prolong Assad's brutal assault on the Syrian people. 

"That fact further highlights Iran's continued effort to expand its nefarious influence in the region, and underscores Iran's fear of a Syria without the Assad regime," he told reporters at the White House on Thursday.