Tehran's tricks for squeezing saudis

NY Post ^ | November 12, 2009 | Amir Taheri

[Scanian]

For almost a decade, Arab regimes have worried about alleged Iranian plans to create a "Shiite crescent" from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, encompassing Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and a yet-to-be liberated Palestine. Now fresh fears have grown that the "crescent" may take another shape as well -- from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Aden, and including chunks of Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Since January, for instance, Iran has intensified pressure on Bahrain, where a Shiite majority has grievances against the Arab Sunni ruling elite. An archipelago connected with the Saudi mainland by a bridge, Bahrain provides the natural link to the oil-rich kingdom's Asharqiyah province, where Shiites form a majority.

[SolidWood]

This is hardly new... as Taheri knows.

The Arabs were wetting their pants of Iran as early as 1971, when the Shah seized the Abu Musa and Tunb Islands, at the bottleneck of the Persian Gulf.

The scenario of Iran conquering the Arab side of the Persian Gulf was also subject of this equally amusing as eyebrow raising fiction of Paul Erdman from 1974...

"The Coming Oil War: How the Shah Will Win the World"

The novel was extended into Erdman's ridiculous book "The Crash of 79", in which the Shah (supported by Israel... harhar) conquers the Gulf, nukes the Arabs (while dying in the blast) and makes the oil fields unusable to the poor World.

The Crash of 79 came, but not as predicted, but in form of mad mullahs deposing the Shah, the duplicitious Arab Wahhabis are our "new friends" (as idiots like Bill Simon and Paul Erdman always wanted), and the world is stuck with the mad mullahs being a real threat... unlike the Shah, who was the favorite boogeyman of the 1970's within certain circles.

[G8 Diplomat]

Red lines = countries Iran has stuck its hands into.

Blue circles = US military base/presence.



Iran's activities:

Afghanistan--supporting the Taliban

Azerbaijan--sent Hezbollah agents to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Baku (they were caught)

Bahrain--supporting the Shi'a majority

Gaza--arming Hamas

Eritrea--has missiles deployed there

Iraq--armed the Mahdi Army & Asa'ib al-Haqq; Quds Forces have coordinated attacks against US personnel for years

Kuwait--Iranian laborers formed an espionage network w/Shi'ite Kuwaitis at the Iranian Embassy in Kuwait City (it's since been busted)

Lebanon--arming & funding Hezbollah

Pakistan--supporting the Taliban

Saudi Arabia--sending political/religious agitants to Shi'a mosques and to the hajj

Somalia--smuggles weapons to pirates & Al-Shabab

Syria--allies with Assad, provides $$$ to his regime

UAE--has a foothold in Ras al-Khaimah via connections to the government there & to a Shi'ite Lebanese businessman; may have chemical weapons storehouse on Abu Musa; sent Palestinians, Syrians, & Lebanese to blow up the Burj Dubai (they were caught)

Yemen--arming the Hawthis

[G8 Diplomat]

Oh yeah, and don’t forget that Turkey is gravitating towards the Iranian axis too. Erdogan’s Islamist party is turning away from secularism & from Israel and the West.