Iran is becoming a regional player

Having Iran as a participant in the Vienna talks regarding the Syrian civil war confirms that it has become a regional player.

Could this role be a precursor to more involvement in more Arab countries, a manifestation of the new Iran wishing to exercise territorial hegemony from Tehran across Iraq to Syria and Palestine?

A new militia called “Al Sabrin” has started some operations in the occupied Palestinian territories. It is founded, financed and trained by the Lebanese branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Its function will be similar to that of the 2,000 pro-Tehran Fatimieen Brigade operating in Aleppo, composed mainly of Afghan and Pakistani Shiites.

Iran succeeded in having 2,500 ground forces on the battlefield to dictate the future of any political settlement reached by politicians.

In a hypothetical future settlement of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, would the pro-Iranian players on the ground, like Islamic Jihad and Al Sabrin, ask for Tehran to have a say on the status of Jerusalem?

These questions reflect the worry of many Arabs when Tehran was invited to the Vienna talks.

On October 11, Iranian Defence Minister Husssein Dehghan announced that the IRGC had test fired a medium-range new ballistic missile, called Imad, after Imad Mughnieh, one of Hizbollah’s military leaders.

The minister’s message, addressed to Washington and the Arabs, was that Tehran will pursue its active deterrence policy and impose its hegemony on the region.

Many conspiracy theory advocates affirm that a deal had been brokered to have Syria come within Tehran’s sphere of influence in exchange for having the Houthis subdued in Yemen, and Sanaa going back to its status as it used to be since 1994.

Such a deal does not take into account the facts on the ground, including the death of 250,000 Syrians and the displacement of 11 million more.

Moreover, the people in Damascus will not tolerate having Iranian troops on the Golan or Quneitra practising their brinksmanship on adjacent countries.

Jordan had a long history of confrontation with Tehran’s attempts to incite Palestinian refugee camp dwellers, in ways similar to what Al Qaeda and Daesh are doing now.

On August 26, IRGC navy commander, Admiral Ali Fadawi, gave a press statement that Iran fights with others for values, not just interests and that the military must wage that fight to secure Iran’s leading role in the Muslim world, even beyond the Islamic republic’s boundaries, using, if necessary, the missile arsenal.

With such statements from Iranian military leaders, it is no surprise
that many Sunnis are brainwashed by Daesh just to confront the Shiite threat.