Teheran Logic

For the moment at least, Iran appears to have prevented the Shi'ite opposition from entering Iraq and presumably helping to organize the native fight against Saddam. Middle East Media Research Institute has a useful primer on the main ideas and motives being mull(ah)ed over in Teheran. (Caveat: Sheikh Fadlallah, frequently misidentified as Hezbullah's "spiritual leader," is so misidentified here, so reports of his alienation by the Iranians are not as important as claimed by MEMRI. Fadlallah has for many years been at odds with both Khamenei and Hezbullah—which remains close to Iran and will likely share in whatever good or ill fortune the war brings to Iran.)