IRIB Radio: Haniyeh "Confirms Qaddoumi's Disclosure of Foul Play in Arafat's Death"

More on the dastardly foul-play that led to Arafat's untimely demise. If Hamas and Iran continue to push this story, further Palestinian fragmentation and Iranian entanglement would seem to be on the horizon:

Palestine's elected premier has confirmed a Palestinian official's disclosure about Mahmoud Abbas' involvement in Yasser Arafat's death which was not natural.

Assassination plots aside, I don't think anyone ever exactly thought Arafat's death was "natural."

According to Fars News Agency, Ismail Haniyeh Palestine's legal premier says there is a lot of information that shows PLO Secretary General, Farouq Qaddoumi's disclosures, on involvement of the self-assumed Head of the Palestine Self-Rule Authority in complicity with the then Gaza Security Chief, Mohammed Dahlan, in the death of the late Palestinian leader.

He went on to say that efforts by Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah Movement over the past five year to hush up the case by continuously postponing setting up of a committee to investigate Arafat's death is indicative of their involvement.
Haniyeh added that the situation in the West Bank also confirm their complicity.

Yasser Arafat died under suspicious circumstances while undergoing medical treatment at a hospital in France.

Elsewhere in Iran-related news, we learn that Iran's ill-fated vice-president has "resigned three days after his appointment." We also learn that he is Ahmadinejad's mechutan:

Mashaie, whose daughter is married to Ahmadinejad's son, is an outspoken figure who last year earned the wrath of hardliners, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for saying Iran is a "friend of the Israeli people."

That explains why he didn't disappear from the political arena forever after attempting to make a distinction between Iran's anti-Israel stance and its feelings towards actual Israeli Jews. In more great news from Iran: "Commander Hails Iran's Geographic Advantages for Asymmetric War":

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force Brig. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour Thursday said that Iran enjoys geographic and political advantages that would give the country an upper hand in any potential asymmetric war.

Addressing a gathering of IRGC battalion commanders here in Tehran, Pakpour elaborated on the IRGC doctrine for wars of asymmetry, and underlined IRGC and Basij (volunteer forces) operational preparedness.

Asymmetric warfare--isn't that what terrorists use? That's from Fars News, whose English URL stopped working just as the election unrest started in Iran and which seems to be back in the English news business. So what's with IRNA?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad