When Khomeini returned to Iran in 1979, on board of the Air France flight to Tehran, surrounded by Western air and ground protection, after the fall of the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , and just observers of the Iranian affairs inside and outside of Iran were misinterpreted that the Iranian cleric, who lived in exile for nearly 14 years, really was uninterested in governance, And the backers of the Americans and the French were deceived by his claim that “the religious leader does not want to rule” and that the most that Khomeini aspires , is to be the spiritual leader of the Iranian revolution.
And actually Khomeini has not ruled Iran in the traditional manner of the rule, who was not president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he was bigger than that .Khomeini has managed to be the supreme leader of the Iranian state, which controls alive and dead . And it was shown after a few years that there is no difference between the Shah and Khomeini, but in the naming of the rule and that there is a great similarity on the level of major policies of the Persian state but that Khomeini was determined to achieve what was failed by the last rulers of Al Pahlavi which is a re-Persian expansion in the region.
Khomeini called on this project, the idea of exporting the revolution. Iranians remained working in silence on the application of the principle of exporting the revolution, hiding behind the slogans of death to Israel and America and the noise of nuclear program ; they created in the meantime, charities and cultural centers, and then after that system was strengthened by taking advantage of the control of the home income derived from the flow of the five funds, then entered to the stage of extension of military arms abroad through the establishment of Hezbollah, and support for Hamas movement .
The right opportunity has come to raise the banner of the Khomeini revolution with the changes in the region after the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolution, namely after turning the crisis in Syria of a popular uprising peacefully demanding reform and regime change to an armed conflict, in which the Iranian regime entered with its full weight within the policy which appears on the face of supportive to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, but in its interior aspires to complete the project of expansion, which began in part with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and has achieved significant and historic steps following a US occupation of Iraq in 2003, which was followed by the Iranian regime’s intervention directly in this country, which fought a bloody war against the Khomeinist .
To reach the Iranian regime project of expansion in the Arab environment through an Arab gates, a Syrian gate as it was dispatched Major General Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Qods Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and director of a network of Iranian fighters acting across the Middle East, to use innovative ways to support the Syrian army in its battle against the opposition and armed groups . Qassem Soleimani has begun to form fighter cells similar to the Hezb ullah “Party of God”, relied on mercenaries from non-Persians of Afghans who are in Iran, and the Pakistanis on the pretext of defending the holy shrines where the banner of “Vatmeon” name was emerged in the late of 2012, after the Syrian regime losses have been increased and places of battles were doubled with the rebels. The brigade includes Major elements of the Shia from the nationality of Hazara near the Persians in Afghanistan, noting that they were trained and armed by the Quds Force, the IRGC’s arm to intervene in region . Iranian regime has recruited Afghan refugees residing in its territory through financial inducements and the granting of residency for themselves and their families, exploiting so their poverty and their difficult living circumstances to immerse them in Syria fighting to protect the regime of Bashar Assad. The Afghan fighters are distributed initially on Iraqi militias such as the “Brigade of Abu al Fadl al Abbas,” or fighting within the ranks of the elements of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and fought battles in the fronts of Damascus in support of the forces of the regime and its countryside, but they later formed private militias, such as the brigade of “Vatmeon and the brigade of” Khaddam of Aqeel ” they are belong to the so-called” Hezbollah Afghanistan “. those Afghan fighters are spread in most areas of Syria, but it was recorded for them a broader presence in some fronts notably fronts of Reev of Damascus” Eastern Ghouta – Qalmoun “and Reev of Aleppo” Hndarat. ”
And it established in a manner similar to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards , the brigade of Zeinbeyen featuring Shia Pakistanis fighting in Syria, popularly known as Hezbollah of Pakistan and Zeinbion bears a slogan similar to the slogan of the Lebanese Hezbollah and their notes on Facebook directed greetings to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei . The migration of Shiite fighters from Pakistan, a new phenomenon is interpreted as the result of several factors, the most important is a general feeling among the Shiites especially threatened by Daesh organization, which focuses on targeting Shiites in several countries, including Pakistan. Among these factors are the Iranian quest to mobilize a crowd of fighters from Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight in Syria through to convince them that the fall of the Assad regime would be a disaster for Shiites around the world, and focus on the presence of Shiite shrines in Syria and Iraq in order to win the support of followers of the sect.
For his part, the competent journalist in the affairs of the armed groups , Nadher Islam Muhammad confirms , that the sectarian factor and ideological motive are not the main motivation of Shiite fighters who go to Syria, but the material element. He adds that the Shiite population of Kurram region are suffering from poverty and lack of education and health services and economic development for decades, making young people are looking primarily for money which is what they get in the form of bonuses from the Iranian regime and the regime of Bashar al-Assad. He says that these bonuses enable young people to secure a decent living for their families in Pakistan at a time when they believe that they are engaged in holy jihad for the future of Shiites around the world . the Nadher Islam adds that the declaration of state regulation on the establishment of branches in Pakistan and Afghanistan makes the Shiites in this country believe that they think battle of Assad in Syria is the most important battles between Shiites and Sunnis . it is worth noting that the Shiites in Pakistan feel that if the state regulation predominate over the Assad , then the influence of the ISIS will be strengthened in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the future, “therefore they participate in the protection of the Syrian regime in every possible way “.
In Yemen, the rise of Houthi group in Yemen ,and being on the top of the political scene and composition of military force and its attempt to control the country after the Yemeni revolution was not far away from the loyalty of the movement to Tehran and the support of the the Iranian regime to it , in order to sow sectarian conflict in the Gulf region and try to shiitize it . This is supported by what some officials in Tehran say that the Houthis is a copy of Hezbollah in Lebanon, confirming the project of export the velayat-e faqih revolution in the regional environment . No longer a secret of Iranian support for the group of Ansar Allah “Huthis” in Yemen, which was not limited to political and media support only, but extended to the military support, arming and training the guerrillas, and this is what enabled them to control of the capital Sanaa and the invasion of the Yemeni provinces ,one after the other, and implementation of their coup against the legitimate president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi successfully.
Iranian infiltration began in Yemen through supporting the Houthi group in 2004, while the Houthis began an armed conflict with the central government in Sana’a in order to drop it, and this prompted Sanaa to point a finger at Tehran, especially after controlling for a number of Iranian ships loaded with weapons sent to the Houthis. In 2012, Yemeni authorities had arrested a spy cells in Iran’s favor, and the conflict arrived to a climax in 2013, when the Yemeni navy intercepted an Iranian ship carrying weapons destined for the Houthis, and with the outbreak of the Yemeni revolution and the fall of the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh and the deteriorating of security situation in the country, a group of Huthi found its opportunity to take control of the capital Sanaa and extend its influence on Yemen, and the interpenetrated regional situation and US-Iranian rapprochement helped them, which gave them a green light to move and control of Yemen.
A clear Tehran’s support to the movements of the Houthis is shown in the Iranian official’s remarks , where Ali Shirazi, representative of the Supreme Leader of the Iranian Revolution in the Qods Force of the Revolutionary Guards, said that “al-Houthi group in Yemen is a similar model of the Hezbollah in Lebanon, and this group will enter the field to confront the enemies of Islam,” as described by the advisor of the Supreme leader for international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati that “this movement is part of the successful movements of Islamic awakening”, declaring clearly that Iran is backing the Huthis in Yemen.
Observers believe that the Houthis are a creature of Iran in Yemen,and has provided them with financial, military and political support, in order that that group is an arm of Iran in the southern flank of the bay used to destabilize and create hotbeds of permanent tension and conflict, while others point out, that Iranian support to the Houthi group helped her to quick access to power and control over the capital, Sanaa, and extend its influence over Yemen; where Hassan Abu Taleb, an expert on Yemeni affairs in Al-Ahram Center for political and strategic Studies, says the Huthis are Iran tool in Yemen, which is the main motive for them and they were heading them, so as to achieve its interests in Gulf.
He continued: Houthi group is a creature of Iran, and they were unable to control the capital , and extend its influence in Yemen in this form without the support of Tehran , and suggests that Iran’s support for the Houthis comes within the framework of Tehran’s desire to put new rules of politics in the Middle East, and bargaining to the superpowers on several files, that to put her hand on the Bab al-Mandab, and knock the rear doors of the Gulf and Egypt, pointing out that Iran has taken advantage of the state of security chaos and the weakness of the Yemeni state after the overthrow of Ali Abdullah Saleh to implement its plan, through the rise of al-Huthi group to power in Yemen.
Abu Taleb added : that the Iranian support for the Houthi group has different forms, including the regional and international political support using Tehran for its power to put pressure on the Gulf States and the international community to accept the movements of the Houthis in Yemen, and religious support to mobilize and recruit young people in the ranks of the group in a doctrinal prospective , that’s beside the military’s support provided by Iran of training and arming the fighters of the group , and continued: Iran took advantage of Washington’s need to it in the fight against jihadist organizations, to prepare the international climate for the control of the Shiite group on Yemen in reciprocal to the face of state regulation and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula .
For his part, Mohammed Mohsen Oboualnor researcher , specializing in international relations explains that Iran’s support for the Houthi group has multiple dimensions, includes the sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites in the region, in addition to the cold war between Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states on the one hand and Iran on the other hand, as well as Iran’s pursuit to expand its influence in the region, and adds: Iran has always sought to destabilize the Gulf’s stability by moving its Shiite arms that are there in order to threaten the security of the Gulf states, and create a permanent state of unrest to drain capabilities of countries in the region, stressing that the Huthis have become a major arms upon which Iran depends to create hotbeds of conflict and tension in the Gulf, and he continued saying that the success of the Houthis to tighten grip on Yemen and extend their control over the entire country, will encourage Shiite minorities in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE to follow their example, and revolt against the ruling regimes, which achieves the strategic goal of Iran to shiitize the Gulf and join it to the region of its influence .
And Saad Abdul Majid , a professor of political science at Ain Shams University, noted that Iranian support is provided to all Shiite movements in the region, both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shiite militias in Iraq, or providing political and military support to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, and support for the movements of the Shiites in Bahrain, this is a Besides arming Houthi group and support it to take control of Yemen in order to be the military arm on the Saudi borders, and this is the undeclared truth that that Iran is the main driver of the movements of the Shia in the region, pointing out that Iran’s support for the Houthis began in more than ten years, noting that the Yemeni Navy was able to arrest several Iranian ships carrying weapons for the fighters of al-Houthi, which is a condemnation evidence on Iran’s interference in Yemeni affairs , in addition to the Iranian official’s remarks, which clearly declared Iran’s support for the Houthi group, describing it as a fight against the enemies of Islam, and Abdel Meguid explains , that Iran’s interference in the affairs of Arab countries became worrisome and requires a unified Arab stance in the light of the media , political, religious and military integrated strategy to counter Iran’s growing influence.
In Iraq, the Iranian regime is a major actor in the reactions of the Iraqi arena, and at various levels; it exercised an influential role in Iraq, and threw his weight to maintain this role and strengthened it constantly, for recognizing the strategic importance of Iraq , and being one of the main gates for the entry to the Arab Environment , and through it , the appropriate communication of Iran is maintained with its allies in the rest of the region. This role of a political , security, economic, and ideological dimension was not to reach to what it is if the crisis hadn’t been experienced by Iraq; noting that the first opportunity available to the Iranian regime to extend its influence over Iraq was after the American occupation in post April 9 2003 and the second chance in light of the security crisis that has witnessed by Iraq since the beginning of 2014, and erupted in June 10 of the same year after the takeover of the organization “Daesh” on a number of Iraqi provinces. Iran’s role has passed a new stage when taking a decisive form of security in the war against it by the presence of officers, experts and Iranian forces directly in the Iraqi scene, as well as through the sale of weapons and military equipment and provide intelligence to Iraqi forces. And the appointment of Qasim Soleimani, commander of the Qods Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a few days ago, a military adviser to the Iraqi government. The composition of the popular crowd to to fight the organization of Daesh and awaited a future role in Iraq after the Daesh. And politically, Iraq refused the decisive storm led by Saudi Arabia against the Houthis in Yemen and its reservation on the decision of the League of Arab States in March of this year, considered the Lebanese Hezbollah as a terrorist party. This role has grown and developed as a result of changes in the balance of the Iraqi internal powers, as well as regional and international environment in the Middle East. Not to mention the Iranian regime’s persistent attempts to destabilize the security of the stability of the Arab Gulf states through terrorist sleeper cells.
The Iranian regime , in order to succeed in its expansionist project , Iran established for that centers which broadcast the views and culture of the «Iranian project», and distributes books and magazines for the promotion and empowerment of its principles, and to expand his staff and his influence and buying a lot of receivables in the Arab region to achieve this. If the aspirations of the Iranian project in more than one Arab country is sectarian and social fragmentation, and the acquisition of some of the events and economic participations in partnership with some of the citizens of Arab countries, as is happening in some Arab Gulf states. This project will contribute directly or indirectly to keep the Arab societies busy about the main issue, which is the Palestinian issue and on the face of the global Zionist project and preoccupation with internal dispute . This is referred to by many writers, politicians and intellectuals of the Iranian regime that its project is located in the box of «enmity», because it is a hostile project for the Arab nation. The Iranian project and his expansionist geographical tendency in some Arab countries such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen are as vivid examples that are still visible to this project, which aims to dominate the Middle East and its countries and peoples and their resources and wealth and to subject the majority in support of minorities in the area in an attempt to impose its hegemony and authority (the dream of re-Persian Empire) and connect its track , future and stability to this project and its success and extend its authority, by making the region to live in a state of chaos, anxiety and conflicts, through the implementation of a Persian and intelligence long- term plan to broadcast demagoguery in Arab countries and the exploitation of Shiite thought, which is in line with Western project to create the creative chaos in the Arab countries.
Political analysts put an important part of the responsibility of extension for Iranian project that the Iranian regime has drawn his influence in the region through the use of all the crises faced by the peoples and countries of the region, including the sectarian paper by the case of the vertical division between sectarian components in the region since 2003. the employment of the Iranian regime for the issue of Shiite issue helped it to “threaten the stability of the region as a result of Arab errors in dealing with Shiite Arabs, especially when the crisis started in Iraq; the Iranian regime was enabled in the absence of an Arab contain of a comprehensive policy for all components of society to impose its control over the Shiites and turned them to the ruling majority in the country and prevented the strong central state even if it is led by a Shiite. ” And deal with the Iranian regime as a national issue that some of the Arab countries did not understand , warning that the Iranian regime “will arrive someday militarily to the depth of Arab environment , not just intellectually also as arrived today to the remotest of the Arab Maghreb, unless they are dealing with its interventions in terms of a common national interest.” They stress to the need to coordinate Arab positions to counter Iranian interference, and Arab states such as Egypt and Jordan should play a role in the political and military support; The Saudi begun, after the American and the Russian position was shown in support of the Iranian regime, making progress in this war, especially in Yemen. They believe that the Riyadh should focus its efforts on three main aspects in the face of Iran:
* Resolve the Yemeni’s file in a way to ensure that Iran’s disability to re-intervention to Yemeni affairs.
* Support movements of protest inside Iran against the Wali al-Faqih system and draw the attention of international humanitarian and human rights organizations to the suffering of the Iranian people from the repression on the condition of infringement to the international law, as do by Iran.
* Focus on detecting the Iranian regime’s involvement in sectarian terrorism in the region and work to criminalize militias deployed in Syria and Iraq internationally.
And political and security analysts support this approach, stating that “there is currently a conflict of a struggle factions , with Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Kurdistan Iran and Ahwaz and Baluchistan, and assist these groups in all aspects affecting the path of Iranian project outside.”
And they see that there is a Iranian -Saudis conflict , ( interface of Arab countries) that is developing day after day, pointing out that the Arab countries rely on the liberal theories of its foreign policy, as opposed to the Iranian regime, which adopts the foreign policy based on the intervention in the affairs of countries in the region through the ethnic and sectarian communities in order securing Iranian internal security. The failure of the Iranian project in the region is through the fight of it by the same weapons, with the help of the oppressed people at home financially, militarily and politically, it was an argument on which the Iranian regime based the principle of exporting the revolution.
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies