Amir Taheri

Beyond providing TV foot age of welcoming throngs of Hezbollah supporters, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Lebanon this week served a number of purposes -- none good.

First, it underlined Tehran's claim to be the dominant foreign power in Lebanon. In an unprecedented scene, virtually all Lebanese political leaders gathered at the presidential palace in Beirut to pay their respects to a man who finances most of them. (It is no secret that Hezbollah is no longer the only Lebanese outfit to be bankrolled by Iran.)

Asserting Iran's dominance in Lebanon is of geopolitical importance for the Islamic Republic's leadership. Already strongly present in Iraq, where its allies (the Sadrists, who follow Muqtada al-Sadr) are seeking the lion's share in a new coalition government, Iran is also the patron of Syria's Ba'athist regime. Adding Lebanon and Iraq to Syria would give Iran a direct corridor to the Mediterranean for the first time since the 7th century.