AFGHAN INSURGENTS GETTING AID FROM IRAN

"Afghan insurgents are being trained inside Iran and given weapons to fight security forces, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces said... General Stanley McChrystal said... Iran, as a neighbor, had natural interests in Afghanistan and to a certain extent the assistance and interaction it provided was healthy. "There is however clear evidence of Iranian activity, in some cases of providing weapons and training to the Taliban that is inappropriate... "

"Tehran's economic influence in Afghanistan has grown rapidly in recent years, especially in the West, where cross-border trade is brisk. A dialect of Iran's Farsi language is one of two state languages in Afghanistan, and Iran hosted millions of Afghan refugees during decades of conflict...."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_afghanistan_iran

U.S. ORDERS CLANDESTINE MILITARY OPERATIONS INSIDE IRAN

"... Gen. David H. Petraeus... has ordered a broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats in Iran... the order also permits reconnaissance that could pave the way for possible military strikes in Iran if tensions over its nuclear ambitions escalate... The secret directive, signed in September... appears to authorize specific operations in Iran, most likely to gather intelligence about the country’s nuclear program or identify dissident groups that might be useful for a future military offensive..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/world/25military.html

U.S. DENIES IRAN THE RIGHT TO PEACEFUL ENRICHMENT
Because such knowledge would be a deterrent against attack

"... the position of the U.S.... has been that Iran must be compelled to forfeit its right to enrich uranium, even for a purely peaceful nuclear program, since the technological knowledge that Iran is acquiring by enriching uranium could be diverted towards a military program in the future...

(However) Iran's goal is not the acquisition of a nuclear weapon, but the acquisition of the technological knowledge to assemble the components of a nuclear weapon without actually building one and without violating the nuclear non-proliferation treaty... this approach could give Iran much of the benefit of acquiring a nuclear weapon as a deterrent against Western attack without subjecting Iran to the negative political and economic consequences of openly violating the treaty.

(So) The U.S. goal has not been merely to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon - the U.S. goal has been to prevent Iran from acquiring the deterrent benefits of getting close to acquiring a nuclear weapon..."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/04-4