The Obama administration conducted a 30 minute conference call this afternoon with journalists to preview President Obama’s speech on Afghanistan tonight. The final question concerned Iran. The reporter who posed the question informed the senior administration officials briefing the media that Iran had criticized the reported escalation of troops to Afghanistan and compared it to the policies pursued by the Bush administration. A senior administration official explained that such a perception was understandable because both the Bush and Obama administrations are pursuing the national security interests of the U.S. — wisely and uncharacteristically (for this White House) resisting the temptation to take a shot at their predecessors. But then came a troubling claim. “Iran has traditionally played a very important role in the stability of Afghanistan. And we expect that that’s the kind of role we’ll see Iran play in the future.” There is no denying that Iran has played an important role in the stability of Afghanistan — Iran has sought to destabilize it. It has done this in both obvious and less obvious ways, ranging from quiet payments to local and even national Afghan officials to providing the weapons killing American and NATO soldiers there. Indeed, we have recently seen an increase the level of support Iran has provided to the Taliban and insurgent groups — and according to the Obama administration’s top intelligence official, that support includes lethal aid. In October, US soldiers found Iranian-made rockets in Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan. CBS News reported that cooperation between the Iranian regime and the Taliban had grown. Lara Logan reported on Iran’s “increasingly deadly involvement” in Afghanistan: