While that may sound like a recipe for a bruising intra-Islamic war, MacLeod explains that "there's no appetite in Iran for military adventures, not even among hard-liners -- the country still feels the bitter wounds of its eight-year war against Iraq." On the other hand, military maneuvers may be the only way to send a message to a country in which your diplomats aren't safe.
Word to Your Mullah
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Iran's Islamic fundamentalist rulers have a beef with their Afghani counterparts -- so much so that Tehran on Tuesday sent 70,000 troops to play war games on the border between the two countries. Tensions are running high since 11 Iranian diplomats disappeared after the ruling Taliban seized an opposition stronghold. Tehran also has a longstanding loyalty to the beleaguered anti-Taliban opposition. "Iran and the Taliban are deeply suspicious of each other," says TIME Middle East bureau chief Scott MacLeod. Iran's Shiite Muslim tradition is at odds with the Taliban's extreme Sunni interpretation. "The Iranians view the Taliban as medieval, as giving Islam a bad name," says MacLeod. The Taliban, for its part, is reported to have massacred Shiites after recently seizing opposition strongholds.