Iran`s Revolution is a Threat to the Middle East - Essay Example

The domination of the Middle East has long been Persia’s national interest. Persia perceives the Middle East as part of its aspheric influence. However, this influence always poses a strategic threat to Persian neighboring countries. During the Great Cyrus’ reign, Persia dominated the Middle East for 200 years. In the 7th century, the Sasanian Empire dominated the Middle East until it was wiped out by Arab Muslims in 633 AD. Moreover, in 1508, Shah Ismail I, the founder of the Safavid Empire in Iran, occupied Baghdad until he was defeated by Ottoman Sultan Selim in 1514. In addition, in April 1925, Reza Shah Pahlavi, King of Iran, occupied The Arab State of Ahwaz and annexed Iran. In contemporary times, Iran asserted its claim over the disputed island of Abu-Musa with the United Arab Emirates. More recently, an Iranian military key figure declared that the Persian Gulf is a property of Iran. Hence, Iran’s ambition to dominate the Middle East is driven by the glorious history of the Persian Empire.

From the Iranian perspective, Iran is raising power, while Arab nations are declining. The Arab leaders are not eligible to lead the Islamic nations. They could not defend their own countries rather than defending the Islamic nations. Palestine is occupied by Jews and Iraq is occupied by Christians. Therefore, Arab leaders have stepped down and given the leadership of Umma to Iran to lead the Muslims to victory.

I would argue that Iran seeks to dominate the Middle East by exporting the revolution, by supporting terrorism, and militarily by expanding its hegemony in the region. The paper, firstly, will focus on why Iran is interested in exporting its revolution to the Middle East and what the targeted countries are. Then it will expand on Iran’s influence strategy by which it gains the heart and the mind of the Middle East population in general and Shiites in particular. Next, it will examine Iran’s reliance on terrorism as an alternative option to dominate the region of the Middle East. The Iran nuclear ambition will be discussed as well. Finally, the paper will conclude with the discussion at hand.

EXPORT OF REVOLUTION
Hence, from Khomeini’s perspective, the Iranian resistance against the Shah should be an Islamic type revolution. Khomeini’s Antagonism against the monarchical system was not limited to the Shah in Iran but also against the monarchical absolutism across the Islamic world. Khomeini’s perception of the Islamic State as a non-democratic type of government was governed by clergy. Khomeini transformed Islam into an anti-Western ideology and rejected the Middle Eastern border drawn by the Western power. From Khomeini’s perspective, the Islamic government calls for justice and should not be limited to Iran only. Therefore, it has to be exported to the Muslim world.

Soon after toppling the Shah’s regime and assuming power in 1979, Khomeini implemented the Islamic Revolution Principles by calling upon the worldwide Muslim community to take action against unjust, harsh, secular, and nationalist rulers.