The Mullahs are Scrambling…

…for cover in the wake of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The Guardian reports on the upheaval in Iran:
“Jolted by the swift collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, the hardline clerics who rule Iran have been cracking down on dissent at home and talking discreetly to US diplomats abroad in an effort to stave off American pressure.
“With US troops and military bases now virtually surrounding Iran, the [radical] leaders have broken an old taboo by talking to their arch-enemy in an attempt to buy some breathing room and pre-empt possible US military action.”