I don't pretend to any genuine insight into Iran, despite the fact of taking an interest for almost 40 years.
Just one observation, which you probably already know, the people in Iran are not Arabs. Different ethnic group, different language.
They are Muslim, of course, primarily Shi'a, which is not the religion of most Arabs (who are mostly Sunni).
The people of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, etc., are Sunni, not Shi'a.
Saddam Hussein is Sunni, and the people who ruled Iraq under him were Sunni.
My guess is that this distinction is one of the most important factors in this struggle. It's not academic to them. At least as important as Protestant vs. Catholic in Ireland, a struggle that we've mostly forgotten now but was deadly not so long ago. |
