European Journal of Social Sciences ISSN 1450-2267 Vol. 57 No 2 November, 2018, pp.255-267 http://www.europeanjournalofsocialsciences.com/ The Iranian Intervention in the Arab States Affairs: Pretension and Facts Abdulrahman Al-Fawwaz Associate Professor Department of Humanities, Al-Balqa' Applied University P.O.Box: 15008 Amman 11134 Jordan E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Abstract Iran, being one of the dominating super powers in the region has been known for its aggressive role in the entire world. The Arab region is exclusively recognized as its strategic position and the substantial availability of natural resources. In the past and even today, the west world have been protecting the global interest in the region and throughout the history, hostilities have been flaring up that affected the internal stability and peace situation. Among this, the role of Iran is dominated towards its intervention within the Arab States. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the Iranian interventions in the Arab States affairs. It tends to investigate that the specific conflicts created by Iran and the impact of those conflicts towards the peace and stability of the Arab States. The findings of the paper are obtained through secondary analysis and it reveals that the major intervention done by Iran in the Arab States are towards religious affairs, territorial, and security affairs, political and trading affairs. Moreover, the Iranian intervention is now expanded towards the military intervention in the Arab States as well, which is affecting the political stability of the region. As the present political situation is sensitive; therefore, much of the policy implications are considered weaker due to the fulfillment of state interest and security. However, there is need to focus on presenting major implications that can help to ensure the peace and stability of the region so that the socio-economic development can be restored. Keywords: interventions, Iran, Arab States, war, conflict, religion, security, resources Introduction Overview The Arabian Gulf considered as the critical block on the map of the world because of various dynamics and benefits. The significance of the region dates back and it considered as not only significant region because of oil extraction and production, but also the location of the region is established in middle of the world, which connects the entire economic and trading routes of the world (Barzegar, 2008; McNaugher, 2010; Al Kaabi, and Al Kaabi, 2011). Background of Issue The establishment of Iran was the result of the Persian Empire that was in great power during 500BC- 651AD. During the period, the Safavid Empire gave rise to the formation of Iran because of the major conflict took place in 1501 where Twelver Shi’ism (the descending of Muhammad al Mehdi ) was 255 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 57, Issue 2 November (2018) declared as official religion of Iran, whereas Sunnism was majorly followed in Iran. The rise of Shi’ism was made to separate Iran from Sunni Empire. Safavids used the border of Iraq to convert people and launched the gory campaign against Ottoman Empire. This gave rise to Iran-Iraq Conflict and resulted in increasing gap between Shias and Sunnis . However, in 1979, the revolution of Khomeini changed the dynamics of Iran by imposing the Shi’ism theories (Al Kaabi, and Al Kaabi, 2011; Matin, 2007). In the past 30 years, three major conflicts and wars have taken place within Arab States, resulted in the global and regional instability. The Gulf War that took place between 1990 and 1991, the Iran-Iraq conflict, and the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. brought uproar within the entire region. Historically, the fall of Iraq promoted Iran to empower its political and nuclear system (Rahimi, 2011). Iran, being strong political and nuclear power exerted its power towards the region; the power and ability to destabilize the entire balance within the region by exerting more control and power of its nuclear weapons, ability to intervene in the war presently going in the Gulf states and marking the potential of its arms deployment in the region. Despite of this, the Gulf States and Iran both have common interest that is they share a common gateway towards the world i.e. the Strait of Hormuz , which gives channel to Iran and the Gulf States to pass oil and gas to the rest of the world (Talmadge, 2008). Problem Statement Iran, being as a strong political and military block in the region has entered into the era of hegemony and power in the region; driven based on its political and regions’ ambition to strengthen its economic and international affairs. After the fall of the regime of Saddam and the beginning of the new era of power, Iran increased its level of influence in Gulf States as well as in Iraq by stepping forward towards domination (Kraig, 2004). Besides, the state after witnessing the Gulf tension expanded its vision where it revealed its nuclear ambitions to the entire world. However, with the intention of securing its border from Western influence and the impact of war in Gulf States, the nuclear ambitions of Iran developed insecurity and instability within the entire region. Towards the Gulf States, Iran emphasized upon raising its vocals to assert dominance based on its nuclear power; resulted historical turbulence between the Gulf States and the Iran, which gave rise to the new era (Al Kaabi, and Al Kaabi, 2011). The superfluous interventions of Iran among Gulf States was not limited to the political affairs, but to the internal affairs as well such as the religious differences were reached to its height, the rising security threats for the entire region, which led towards political disturbance within the region (Kraig, 2003). Based on this, the problem statement of the study was to critically review the Iranian intervention in the Arab States Affairs based on pretensions and facts. Aims of the Study The aim of the paper was to critically review the role of Iran in the Arab state affairs and the affect of geopolitical, religious, nuclear, and security-based interventions of Iran in the Arab states affairs based on facts and pretensions. Research Questions The questions for the study were as follows: What is the geo-political and economic significance of Iran within the Arab region? What is the divergence between Iranian ideology and Arab States’ ideology? What are the major interventions done by Iran toward the Arab States? Significance of Study The paper helped to develop some significant understanding towards the Iranian perspective of power hegemony and political influence. It significantly contributes to understand the Iranian interventions in 256 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 57, Issue 2 November (2018) the internal Arab States affairs and the tensions that Iranian intervention has created among the Gulf States. With the help of the paper, great deal of information for the geopolitical investigators can be provided so that much can be explored in the future on the issue. Especially, it aimed to enlighten the geopolitical practitioners to investigate new facts so that the issue can be explored exhaustively. Research Methodology The present research paper provided a comprehensive review on the intervention of Iran in the Arab States affairs based on the pretension facts and evidences; therefore, the investigation was conducted by gathering extensive evidences through secondary means of the data collection. The entire concept focused on gathering the composite facts, which focused on the background and historical perspective of Iran, its origination and the contribution of Iran in the Arab States based on its political and economic significance. For this, the chosen philosophy for the research was social constructivism. With the help of social constructivism, the information constructed aimed to gather the multiple facts that helped in knowing the role of Iran and its political significance in the region. It helped in obtaining the subjectivity towards the issue by emphasizing on the key interventions done by Iran in the Arab state affairs. With the help of social constructivism, the paper helped in uncovering the clear perspective towards Iran’s intervention in the Arab States based on its political and religious interest. Based on the chosen research philosophy, the research design suitable for the paper was exploratory research design. Generally, the secondary investigations are supported by the exploratory research design, which helps to explore issues comprehensively. Exploratory research designs mainly help in conducting the critical and exhaustive reviews by gathering facts from past studies. However, the adoption of exploratory research design created limitation on the methods adopted for the paper. For instance, the descriptive data have not been discussed related to the issue. The material that has been gathered for the paper was obtained from published documents and reports. Mainly, the research papers that shared exploratory evidences have been used in order to support the arguments and present the critical review on the major interventions done by Iran in the Arab States affairs. The material that have been used for conducting the analysis was obtained from the journal articles such as The changing perception of Iran towards the Gulf States by Alam, (2001); State-Building in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf Crisi s by Davis, (2014); Comparative Study of International Commercial Arbitration and International Law in Iran by Hashemi, and Mardani, (2016). Books have also been referred, which include Group conflict and political mobilization in Bahrain and the Arab Gulf: Rethinking the Rentier State by Gengler, (2015); Iran, Iraq and the Arab Gulf States by Kechichian, (2016) and websites such as Key Facts about the Way in Yemen by Alijazeera (2016); Iran’s Involvement in Iraq by Beehner, and Bruno, (2008).