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Iran's Leaders See Threats in Iraq and Lebanon Protests
(New York Times) Farnaz Fassihi - Enormous antigovernment demonstrations in Lebanon and Iraq, some tinged with hostility and resentment toward Iran, have suddenly put Iran's interests at risk. If the protesters succeed in toppling their governments and weakening established political parties with deep ties to Iran, the Iranians stand to lose decades of financial, political and military investments. On Wednesday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei inveighed against the protests - a signal of the danger he sees lurking in them. Officials and commentators in Iran have branded the uprisings as "sedition." Nader Hashemi, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver, said, "Khamenei, who has invested so much in the region both financially and in manpower, is not going to allow protesters to compromise Iran's regional dominance, no matter what it takes."