Best Defense

Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Iran’s cranky leaders

Iran’s leaders get what Obama is up to, and are cranky about it. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei chewed out visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talbani over the weekend, warning him, according to the official Iranian news agency, that "the occupiers were preparing the ground for a long and permanent presence in Iraq." I suspect that Obama’s ...

Iran's leaders get what Obama is up to, and are cranky about it. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei chewed out visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talbani over the weekend, warning him, according to the official Iranian news agency, that "the occupiers were preparing the ground for a long and permanent presence in Iraq." I suspect that Obama's ploy bothers Iran because it calculates that it is the long-term winner in Iraq, and wants Uncle Sam to bug out within a couple of years so it can begin to collect its winnings.

Iran’s leaders get what Obama is up to, and are cranky about it. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei chewed out visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talbani over the weekend, warning him, according to the official Iranian news agency, that "the occupiers were preparing the ground for a long and permanent presence in Iraq." I suspect that Obama’s ploy bothers Iran because it calculates that it is the long-term winner in Iraq, and wants Uncle Sam to bug out within a couple of years so it can begin to collect its winnings.

Meanwhile, Iran is sending former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to Iraq to talk some sense into the Baghdad government. Also, the Iranian government has detained Roxana Saberi, an American freelance journalist (and former Miss North Dakota) who works a lot for NPR. She should be released immediately.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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