Thread by @avivajazz

The Iran Cables: Secret Documents Show How Tehran Wields Power in Iraq |
“Hundreds of leaked intelligence reports shed light on a shadow war for regional influence — and the battles within the Islamic Republic’s own spy divisions.” nytimes.com/interactive/20…

2/ “Leaked Iranian documents offer a detailed portrait of just how aggressively Tehran has worked to embed itself into Iraqi affairs, and of the unique role of Suleimani. The documents are contained in an archive of secret Iranian intelligence cables obtained by The Intercept.”

3/ “The leak exposes Tehran’s vast influence in Iraq, detailing years of painstaking work by Iranian spies to co-opt the country’s leaders, pay Iraqi agents working for the Americans to switch sides and infiltrate every aspect of Iraq’s political, economic and religious life.”

4/ The Iran cables show how much “Iraq has fallen under Iranian influence since the US invasion in 2003, which transformed Iraq into a gateway for Iranian power, geographically connecting Islamic Republic dominance from the shores of the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.”

5/ These leaked Iran cables reveal far more than was previously understood about the extent to which Iran and the United States have used Iraq as a staging area for their spy games.”

6/ “And the leaked documents show how Iran, at nearly every turn, has outmaneuvered the United States in the contest for influence.”

7/ “According to the reports, after the American troop withdrawal in 2011, Iran moved quickly to add former C.I.A. informants to its payroll. One undated section of an intelligence ministry cable shows that Iran began the process of recruiting a spy inside the State Department.”

8/ After President George W. Bush had declared Iran to be part of an “axis of evil,” General Souleimani took grave offense, and Iranian leaders believed Tehran would be next on Washington’s list of regime-change capitals after Kabul and Baghdad.”

9/ Here, pitifully, is the US Army’s conclusion on the ultimate “benefit” America “earned” from its insane war in Iraq:

“An emboldened and expansionist Iran appears to be the only victor.”

10/ “Today, Iran is struggling to maintain its hegemony in Iraq, just as the Americans did after the 2003 invasion.” The Iran cables graphically portray the incestuous and corrupt forces among Iranians, Iraquis, and ex-C.I.A. agents that led to Iraqui hatred of Iran’s “takeover.”

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