Iran, the deal-maker?

Lots of bits of news about the Iranian Foreign Ministry being involved in various quiet diplomatic interventions to try to negotiate some kind of a de-escalation in at least the Shi-ite areas of Iraq. The Americans are still denying this fiormly. But the Brits seem to have been involved in it.
An Iranian diplomatic initiative was just what I predicted (okay, mainly to myself) when I read that sermon that Rafsanjani gave last Friday.
The latest wrinkle, as reported by AP from Teheran at 00:25 EDT, was this:

Iran ended talks with the United States over how to restore order in Iraq after concluding the negotiations were “going nowhere,” Iran’s foreign minister said Wednesday in a rare acknowledgment of official talks between Tehran and Washington.
But an Iranian diplomat reportedly traveled to Iraq to meet with members of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council and Iraqi clerics to discuss ways of ending the violence…

Let’s hope one or another of the diplomatic interventions now underway can set the situation on the way to a lasting de-escalation.
The present situation is disastrous for everyone concerned. Worst, by far, of course, for the Iraqis, who are losing hundreds of dead and having their country’s structure further degraded by the fighting. But also, terrible for Americans. We know that the number of military people killed is 87 or more so far this month. (Then, there are the mercenaries. How should we count them?)
In addition, Reuters reported on a presentation CSIS’s Anthony Cordesman gave earlier today, in which he said that the U.S. would have to approve a “massive” new spending bill of an estimated $70 billion within the next four months–and approve big new funding for next year, too, to meet its obligations in Iraq. This would be in addition to the $166.5 billion already approved over the past two years, to support war and “post-” war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
CSIS hasn’t posted the transcript of that whole panel discussion on their website yet. But I imagine they will when they can. You can hear it in audio, already.