Iran and AQI, the prequel and the sequel

"Very quickly, in between things...another edition of "next week's discussions, this week." Today's article in al-Hayat is the latest in a near-flood of allegations of cooperation between Iran and al-Qaeda in Iraq in certain Arab media outlets. It's a fairly obvious propaganda move, interesting because of what it signals about emerging political lines coming out of Anbar, Baghdad, Riyadh and Washington rather than because anything is really going on. But it's worth noting that these claims are proliferating - what's the deal?

It is key to note that virtually all of the allegations are coming from the Awakenings and/or the Saudi media. The allegations have been made before, most notably by the Awakenings figure Abu Azzam al-Tamimi on the Saudi TV station al-Arabiya's key anti-AQ propaganda program 'Death Makers' in January. They really started proliferating a few weeks ago - shortly after Condoleeza Rice's trip to Baghdad, for what it's worth, and in line with the increasing focus by American officials on Iran's negative role in Iraq. Over the last week, Ali Hatem of the Anbar Salvation Council accused Tehran of supporting AQI and called on the government to close the Iranian embassy, while ASC head Ahmed Abu Risha accused the Iranian embassy of funding terrorist groups in Iraq. Today Abu Abed, the head of the al-Amariya Awakening who barely escaped an assassination attempt over the weekend, claimed Iranian support for a new AQI unit. Meanwhile, al-Arabiya's 'Death Makers' ran a two-part program (April 18 and 25) which featured an "ex-AQI" figure claiming, among other things, Iranian backing for AQI. Note - in this context, Ayman al-Zawahiri's extended discourse on Iran in last week's tape may be relevant as well.]"
Abu Aardvark