Saudi Arabia Vs. Iran: A Regional Sunni/Shia War Incited By Feckless Obama Foreign Policy
Jan 04, 2016 07:43 am | Jeff Dunetz
It
supposedly started with the Saudi government executing a Shia cleric
who (they claim) was trying to overthrow the monarchy. That was followed
by Iranian protesters (it was probably arranged by the Iranian
government) attacking the Saudi Arabian embassy in Iran, which Saudi
Arabia followed up by breaking off relations with Iran ordering Iranian
diplomats out of the country. There are rumors that other Sunni
countries such as the UAE may join the Saudi Kingdom in tossing out
Iran.
What’s
next is that this conflict may flare up into a Shia and Sunni regional
war that was started 14 centuries ago but fanned by recent impotent
policies of the United States including the Iran nuclear deal.
This
is a battle which started centuries ago after the death of the Prophet
Mohammed some 1,400 years ago, as a disagreement about who should
succeed him. The Sunnis felt that Abu Bakr, a close friend of the
prophet’s, ought to be the next Muslim leader. But the Shiites claimed
that Mohammed had anointed his son-in-law, Ali, as his rightful
successor.
The
Sunnis won out, but a rupture in Islam was created. The chasm was
cemented when Ali’s son was later killed by the ruling Sunni’s troops an
event which the Shiites commemorate every year. Roughly 85% of the 1.6
billion Muslims across the world are Sunnis.
Sunnis
and Shias have been hating themselves for the past 1400 years. The map
below shows which countries are which. Just to add the the
conflict, Terrorist group Hezbollah is Shia, ISIS and al Qaeda are Sunni
http://lidblog.com/wp-content/The word Sunni comes from “Ahl al-Sunna”, the people of the tradition. The tradition in this case refers to practices based on precedent or reports of the actions of the Prophet Muhammad and those close to him.Sunnis venerate all the prophets mentioned in the Koran, but particularly Muhammad as the final prophet. All subsequent Muslim leaders are seen as temporal figures.
Saudi
Arabia is the leader of the Sunni world and the holy cities of Mecca
and Medina are in the Kingdom. Iran is the leader of the Shia world,
they believe the Saudi monarchy should be overthrown and replaced by
Shiites to control the holy cities.
Note: It is not true that if a Shia and Sunni marry their children will be Sushi.
While
tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran have always existed because of
the religious divide, it’s gotten much worse in recent times. There are
on going proxy wars in the Shia country of Yemen and the
Sunni majority country of Syria.
Adding
to the tension is the Obama deal with Iran. In Saudi Arabia the ruling
monarchy fears Shia Iran will try to overturn its rulers. It upset the
fragile Sunni/Shia balance in the region.
The
Saudis started losing trust in the U.S. when Obama drew the red-line in
Sunni Syria and then punted. Syria is majority Sunni but their rulers
are Alawites which is a branch of Shia Islam. Then came the Iran deal
which was seen by the Saudis as Obama choosing the Shias over the
Sunnis. The kingdom was more low profile in its opposition that Israel,
but their diplomats were quietly talking to the US about the dangers posed by Iran.
As Reuters reported soon after the deal was announced:
Saudi officials fear an Iran released from international pressure and economic sanctions will have more freedom and money to back allies across the region who are opposed by Riyadh.
A
Saudi official told Reuters after the Iran agreement was announced
that he feared the agreement would make the Middle East more dangerous
if it gave too many concessions to an Iranian government that Riyadh
blames for turmoil in Yemen, Syria and Iraq.
Meanwhile, a Saudi official said Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers on Tuesday will make the Middle East a “more dangerous part of the world” if it comes with too many concessions, signalling Gulf Arabs’ deep unease at the agreement.The lack of official responses from Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies reflected huge nervousness about a deal set to end the pariah status of Iran, already Riyadh’s main rival for influence across the Middle East, and unchain its economy from crippling sanctions.One Saudi diplomat described the agreement as “extremely dangerous” and said it would give a green light to his own government to start a nuclear energy programme.
Iran
has taken of the many U.S. concessions as a carte blanche to whatever
it wants. Witness the fact they launched two ballistic missile test
against UN sanctions. In fact the Iranian parliament has rejected the
formal, legal text of President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal, negotiated
in July by the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Russia, China and the Tehran
regime.Instead, the majilis approved their own version of the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), creating a situation where the
Iranian government simply hasn’t signed on to the accord that Obama and
Democratic Senators obligated the United States to uphold. And the fact
throughout all this they haven’t been punished is a message to Iran they
can do whatever they wish, and a message to the Saudis they are on
their own.
The recent hints
by the Obama administration that they will allow the Alawite (Shia)
Bashar Hafez al-Assad to rule over the Sunni majority in Syria simply
adds to the Saudi fear that they have been abandoned by the United
States.
This
latest battle which seems to be brewing between the Sunni world led by
the Saudi Arabian monarch and the Shia world led by the Iranians,
started much earlier than last week’s execution of a Shia cleric. It
started 1400 years ago with a fight between Mohammed’s son-in-law and
one of his close friends. The pressure between the sides was increased
by an incompetent U.S. foreign policy which sent the Sunni Islam Saudis a
message that the west was on the side of the Shias.
Unless someone finds away to throw water on the fire growing between these two sides it will quickly erupt into a regional war.
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