Iran will stop at nothing to extend its power

An Arabic columnist on Tehran’s foreign policy

Pro-government army soldiers stand on a road in Fardhat Nahm area they took from Houthi rebels around 60km from Yemen's capital Sanaa. Ali Owidha /Reuters

Iran’s regional ambitions are politically motivated, according to the Saudi columnist Abdulrahman Al Rashed, writing for the London-based daily Asharq Al Awsat. Tehran’s quest for domination isn’t related to the promotion of Shia values or even anything Islamic for that matter. Its animosity towards Israel and the West are temporary slogans in the service of the much larger political objective of regional dominance.

We can see evidence of this pragmatic aspect of Iran’s foreign policy across the region. Tehran selected the Houthis in Yemen, for example, as allies not because they belong to the Zaidi sect, which is traditionally an offshoot of Shia Islam, nor because they claim affiliation to the lineage of the Prophet Mohammed.

Instead they were selected for the simple reason that they are primarily settled along the border with Saudi Arabia, Al Rashed said.

“Since the late 1990s, Iran has been busy supporting the Houthis culturally and organisationally. It convinced their chief Hussein Al Houthi that the tribe’s leadership belongs solely to his family. Iran persuaded Al Houthi that his tribe’s domination of Yemen is ordained by Islam. Such claims, for an otherwise marginal group, enraged traditional Yemeni society, namely Zaidi scholars and Sunnis in the northern district,” the columnist noted.

For years, Iran recruited Houthi youth and trained them in ideology that forced their ultimate allegiance to Iran’s supreme leader. Houthis were given generous funding throughout this process.

“I see similarities between two surrogates that have been created by Iranians in the Middle East: Hizbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen,” the writer pointed out.

“Iranians infiltrated the Shia in Lebanon and managed to marginalise almost all of their traditional and religious leaders, replacing them with leaders like Hassan Nasrallah, who pledged complete allegiance to the Iranian supreme leader. Nasrallah was rewarded with the means to control Lebanon.

“In Yemen, Hussein Al Houthi was made leader, and much like Nasrallah, he justifies his claim to power by alleging affiliation to the Prophet Mohammed.”

Politics can’t be interpreted along sectarian or ethnic lines. Recent history demonstrates that Iran uses its allies based on whatever common interests it shares with each of them, regardless of any other religious consideration.

“For instance, Iran used Hamas as well as Islamic Jihad and some Sunni groups in north Lebanon in the past. It isn’t unusual to see prominent Arab Christian leaders and even communist figures among guests at Iranian propaganda events such as Al Quds Day in Tehran,” Al Rashed noted.

Counterintuitively, Iran is lending its full support to Christian Armenia in its conflict with the Shiite Azerbaijan. Tehran appears to dislike Azerbaijan because of its ties with Israel and its warm relations with the West. As for its alliance with Shia groups in Iraq, they are solely meant to further Iran’s political aspirations to rule Baghdad and control its oil resources.

Iran’s role in the continuing crimes in Syria can’t be overlooked as well, although it was a move that cost Tehran the support of many Arabs and Muslims around the world.

*Translated by Racha Makarem