Iran helps Everybody!

File this under the ever-growing "unlikely" folder.

A senior US general has said that coalition forces in Afghanistan have intercepted Iranian-made weapons on their way to Taliban fighters.

Really? Like hell.

This follows on the hells of another Iranian-aid-to-our-enemies story we've heard recently. Namely, that the Iranians were sending armaments to the Sunnis in Anbar Province in Iraq (the Sunnis were using EFPs, after all).

There are so many reasons these stories are implausible. First, you'd have be living under a rock (or be a Republican congressman), to not know that Iran is Shiite and the Taliban is Sunni. That simple ethnic divide would be enough for me to call shenanigans on this statement from the US Army.

However, we also need to factor in the history of these specific groups. The government of Iran had been an enemy of the Taliban since its inception - they were yet another zealous enemy on Iran's borders (the first of their enemies we dispatched for them). Iran had been funding the Northern Alliance before we co-opted them to help us fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. As for Iraq, the Shiites of Iran have historically battled with the Sunni minority, both through total war and through clandestine efforts.

These stories, as I said, are just implausible. The Shiites of Iran are not helping the Sunnis of Iraq kill their Shiite brothers. The Administration should realize that when you have no credibility left, you shouldn't stretch it further.