James Clapper: “I think, as we said in our October statement, this came from the highest levels of the government.”

I think this was very substantive.

Ties with Tehran offer some regional governments a means of staking an independent position on Iran, thereby mitigating its isolation while also attempting to extract Iranian financial aid and investment for economic and social projects.

I think this reflects Russian insecurity. And it's almost like, Putin needs a rhetorical security blanket, of making threats, like this.

It's inconceivable to me that the Russian intelligence services aren't aware of this, and that Putin has certainly at least acquiesced if not directed -- directing it.