It was inevitable, but that doesn't make it any more probable. How can the GWOT propagandists buy this thesis while Tehran's agents and al-Qaeda's local franchise are locked in a death struggle for control of Iraq? Maybe it's because they're too dumb to tell Sunnis from Shi'ites—or think we are. From The Telegraph, Nov. 15:

Iran 'is training the next al-Qa'eda leaders'
Iran is seeking to take control of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terror network by encouraging it to promote officials known to be friendly to Teheran, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

From AFP via Qatar's Gulf Times, Nov. 12 (commentary to follow):

Iran vows to hit back if Israel launches attack
TEHRAN — Iran’s armed forces yesterday vowed to hit back against any military strike after a top Israeli official refused to rule out attacking the Islamic Republic over its disputed nuclear programme.

Iran's Holocaust cartoon contest was an atrocious and juvenile tit-for-tat for the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's almost equally stupid and insensitive Mohammed cartoon contest. But the cartoon they finally chose as winner sounds like it was making a legitimate point. Israel really does use the legacy of the Holocaust to mask and justify oppression and expropriation of the Palestinians. Is it verboten to point this out? From AP, Nov. 1:

From AP, Oct. 25:

BUENOS AIRES — Argentine prosecutors asked a federal judge on Wednesday to order the arrest of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and seven others for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center that killed scores of people.

We have noted the decidedly mixed signals in the question of whether Iran is really seeking the nuclear bomb. Another piece of the puzzle now emerges. From Reuters, Oct. 5:

TEHRAN - An old letter by revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini which said the military had asked for atomic bombs to continue Iran's 1980s war with Iraq has become a focus for factional sparring as elections approach.

C'mon Bernard, don't you think they're just waiting for Yom Kippur? Baruch Kimmerling writes for Haartez, Sept. 25:

Thus spoke Bernard Lewis
On September 22, 2006, Iran was supposed to attack Israel and perhaps the entire Western world. And why precisely on this specific day? Because it is the 27th day of the month of Rajab (in the year 1427, according to the Muslim calendar), the same day Mohammed ascended to heaven on his legendary horse Buraq. And why attack on this day? Because this is what the well-known Orientalist Bernard Lewis said. One could have dismissed this prophecy with a grin had it not aroused a dispute among a number of renowned scholars, had respected newspapers (like the Wall Street Journal) not published it prominently and had statesmen not regarded it as intelligence requiring study.

What are we to make of this? Iran's ayatollahs have issued both fatwas for and against nuclear weapons in recent months, while the country's National Orchestra performs a Nuclear Energy Symphony. Is Ahmadinejad saying what he really thinks here? Or is this just intended for consumption by his useful idiots, no more real than his recent transparently bogus disavowal of anti-Semitism? From BBC Monitoring (not online), Sept. 21:

From our correspondent Jennifer Fasulo:

Chavez’s Shameful Embrace of Iranian President Ahmadinejad:
Show Solidarity with the Women and People of Iran, not their Oppressors!

Hugo Chavez, one of the key important figures in the left populist movements spreading throughout Latin America, has publicly lauded and embraced Iranian president Ahmadinejad. (See “Two anti-US nations heap praise upon each other,” AP, Sept. 17) It is moments like this, when feminists and any activists who care about women's liberation, are reminded of just how little women’s lives matter in the world of patriarchal nationalist politics.