Iran apparently was as surprised as the rest of the world by the dramatic offensive in Iraq last week that drove the Iraqi army from Mosul and Tikrit and left Sunni terrorists on the edge of Baghdad. Iran's intelligence services seem to have under estimated the al-Qaeda inspired Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), just as their Western counterparts did.
But Iran is much better poised to recover and strike back, and will probably emerge as the big winner in the Iraq debacle, solidifying its dominance in Baghdad. The balance of power in the region will tilt further toward Iran.
