Iranian Questions

The ball is in Iran's court now, since Iran agrees to attend Iraq conference with US:

Iran has pledged to attend this weekend's international conference on the future of the Iraq, where its delegates are likely to come face to face with American representatives.

Diplomatic relations between Iran and America have been suspended for more than 25 yearsTeheran had appeared reluctant to commit itself to the summit, which has been organised by the Iraqi foreign ministry, after Washington gave the meeting its enthusiastic backing.

Perhaps Iran is looking for a distraction, and this summit is a welcome opportunity. After all, according to Russia: Iran still owes for nuclear plant. And we all know how Russia reacts to displeasure. Just ask their critics, former KGB agents, and investigative journalists... oh wait, we can't ask them, they're dead.

The New York Times quoted a Russian official who put it more lightly:

''The main issue on the agenda of today's meeting is to discuss the crisis situation connected to the lack of funding of the project by the Iranian side,'' said Pavlov, who heads the department in charge of the plant's construction at Atomstroiexport.

How... embarassing. Iran is deep in Russia's pocket. Russia is like a loan shark, and if you don't pay up... maybe some Imams will start dying mysterious deaths or plunge to their deaths from five story buildings?

As if Iran didn't have enough problems - what with the big Russian bear lifting it up by its ankles and wringing the spare change from its pockets... Ahmadinejad goes and gets in a flap with his ally Bashar Assad of Syria.

Syrian President Bashar Assad exchanged harsh words with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a phone conversation, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyassah reported on Wednesday.

Sources close to the Syrian leader told the newspaper that Assad had initially called the Iranian president to discuss Ahmadinejad’s meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah in Riyadh.

However, the conversation reportedly turned ugly when Ahmadinejad voiced support for the establishment of an international tribunal on the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri - a sensitive subject for Syria, which has been suspected of involvement in the Lebanese leader’s death.

The report said that Assad became enraged and launched into an angry tirade, cursing the Iranians at the end of the conversation.

At the risk of sounding repetitive... as if Iran didn't have enough problems - their missing Revolutionary Guard General is now reportedly in Northern Europe (along with his family), chewing the fat with CIA and Mossad intelligence agents. Most reports incline to think the General has defected, particularly since his family also managed to get out of the country and are nowhere to be found.

Ynet News has more:

The London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Wednesday quoted an Iranian military official as saying that missing Iranian general Ali Reza Asgari is staying in a northern European country, where he is receiving “excellent treatment.”

According to the newspaper, the Iranian military official said Asgari is being interrogated by American and other Western intelligence officials on secrets he was exposed to while serving as the Defense Ministry’s chief consultant for strategic affairs.

The General, who was also a founding member of Hezbollah, seems to be in good hands.

So what is Iran's response to all this?

Point the finger:

Teheran: US, Israel making threats

Iran took the US, Israel and the UN Security Council to task on Wednesday, accusing Washington and Jerusalem of threatening military attacks on its nuclear facilities and saying Security Council pressure on Teheran was illegal.

The house of cards seems to be just falling down. Divide and conquer.