This is a story about the Iranian fatwa on @SalmanRushdie : Someone I know & trust was a member of the Iranian regime in the 80s. He, his colleagues & friends loved Rushdie’s books (yes, really), so a few of them arranged a meeting with Grand Ayatollah Montazeri… 1/4 …who was as senior a cleric as Khomeini. They wanted to persuade Montazeri to rescind the fatwa. After chit chat & tea they asked about The Satanic Verses. Great, finally someone can tell us what’s in the book! Because, he said, neither he nor Khomeini had read it. 2/4

THREAD: 1. US killing of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani is a disastrous act of war. I spent nearly 1 year investigating Shia militias & Iranian influence in Iraq. A few important points for those who don’t follow this: 2. When ISIS stormed through Iraq grabbing territory, the Iraqi army fled (partly due to the early US withdrawal of support & the Iran-backed Iraqi president’s mismanagement of army leaving it undertrained & weak)