It seems that that Tehran's efforts to disrupt Iraq are quite extensive. A recently defected Iranian intelligence official who was in charge of Iraq describes a billion dollar effort to undermine coalition efforts. One that includes 18 charity fronts, 14 cities, and hundreds of Iran's best agents:
Regarding the reports that the
Iranian leadership has allocated 1bn dollars to prevent the establishment of a modern secular democratic state in Iraq, the official said the monthly allocations for the public and secret security offices in Iraq are more 70m dollars. An amount of 5m dollars is distributed in some religious schools as monthly salaries for the students and assistance to some clerics who are cooperating. More than 2,700 houses, apartments, and rooms were leased in Karbala and Al-Najaf by local collaborators to house the intelligence and Quds Corps elements in 14 Iraqi cities. "Hajj Saeedi" added that the measures taken by the two Kurdish administrations during recent months prompted the Revolutionary Guards and Quds Corps intelligence to implement a plan aimed at inciting the Shi'i Turkomans against the Kurds. He added that some Shi'i Turkoman leaders went to Tehran where they received huge financial aid and guarantees that Iran would support them if confrontations broke out between them and the Kurds.
And kind of unrelated, here is one of those quotes you read that kind of stuns you. One of those that you don't quite know what to make of it. It is both astute and a little scary for a 17 year old to be so into realpolitik (from an article titled Yassin's death exposes Arab-Iran divide):
Mahraz Behboud, a 17-year-old student from a high school for gifted girls, said she had not known Sheikh Yassin, was unmoved by his death, and disagreed with the official policy of siding with Palestinians. "A nation should not waste its financial resources to support weak nations. Diplomatic relations ought to be based on strong ties with the powerful nation. Israel must be our strategic ally, not Palestine," she said.
Oh yeah. And there are three Iranian Kurds on a hunger strike in the UK to protest being denied asylum and sent back to Iran. There is a longer interview with them too. Australia is also sending back an Iranian asylum seaker.