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The global vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Reza Hossein Borr - 6/9/2008

The manifestation of the global vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran is demonstrated in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. Khomeini formulated and devised a 50-year-global-vision in which he planned for the Islamic Republic of Iran to become the main power of the Middle East and the controller of the Persian Gulf as he asserted that the power that controls the Persian Gulf controls the throats of free world.

The main objective of the vision of the Islamic Republic was to export its message through revolutions, agitations, collaboration, influence, propaganda, and direct intervention. At the beginning of the revolution, there was one Islamic Republic. As the result of the efforts of Iran, now we have three Islamic states: Afghanistan, Iraq and Gazza. Lebanon and Syria are under the influence of Iran. There are several other countries which are on their ways to become Islamic Republics. Although Pakistan is constitutionally an Islamic Republic it has been a secular country and now it is moving towards an Islamic style. Furthermore, Iran has generated many Islamic organisations in different countries which have enormous power and influence in their countries.

In his global vision, Khomeini called for several courses of actions: he suggested that all countries with the majority Shia population must seize power through every means which is possible. That was what the Shias of Iraq did to seize power in Iraq using American power and influence. He also suggested that the Shias who are not in majority in a country, they should use the power of knowledge and money to claim the ladders of power to the highest positions to become enabled to influence the decision-making of the Sunni countries in favour of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is the case in Kuwait, and some other countries. In the recent elections of Kuwait, several fundamentalists were elected and some of them are labelled as the members of Hezbollah of Kuwait. Kuwait had to appoint two Shia ministers in its previous governments to accommodate the pressures of Shia influential population.

He also suggested that the Shias must try to divide the secular rulers of the Arab countries from their religious masses and create fear in the rulers that one day there may be a revolution of Islamic nature and through this device, Khomeini suggested that the Shia community need to offer themselves as the loyal citizens of the ruling classes and receive key positions. This is the case in Yaman and Afghanistan and Pakistan. Khomeini advised his successors to fully support the Shia communities of other countries to reach the highest positions in those countries.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has wisely and smartly used this plan to promote the global vision of the Islamisation and Shiaeezation at the same time. As the Shias are inspired, trained and financed to acquire more power, the process of Shiaeezation also improves as the poor and powerless Sunnis see Shiism as the source of power and influence. The fact that the Hezbollah of Lebanon has won the war against Israel some time ago and against its Sunni opponents recently, has become a source of inspiration that it is the legitimacy of Shiism that brings victory. Legitimacy of Shiism facilitates and accelerates the process of Shiaeezation

When Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei talk of the role of Iran in global management and leadership they know exactly what they are talking about. They know that they have immense influence in many countries and they know that they have been behind the strategies that were conducive to the victory of Shias in their countries. As more Islamic organisations and Shia groups look to Iran for inspiration and financial support, the role of Iran as the global leader of radical Islamisation becomes more prominent. Iran uses different strategies for creating influence in the Islamic world: force, where it is needed and gradual influence where it is needed. Gradual influence is inserted in Bahrain and Azerbaijan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, central Asia and the Sudan. As the majority of the people of Bahrain are Shia, it will not take a long-time before the Sunnis face the fate of Iraqi Sunnis where they have become a small minority and completely out of power.

The global process of accelerated Islamisation of the Moslem masses helps tremendously Iran in its claim for global leadership of the Islamic world. The alleged claim of Iran about the decline of US power has also motivated Iran to think about the vacuum which will be generated in the Islamic world if US declines. Keeping in mind that Iran has already won the loyalty of several countries at the cost of US, Iran has concluded that if it has been able to defeat the supporters of US in some countries in the past; it is possible to achieve the same in future.

The rise of China and India as great powers of Asia in the next few decades will certainly decrease the influence of the United States of America in many parts of the world. China has already become the dominant player in Africa. This is because of the huge financial resources that China has invested in those countries. Russia is also asserting itself in international scene. There is not clear spiritual or political leader in the Middle East with the kind of legitimacy that the Arab masses can approve of. The Islamic Republic of Iran is taking advantage of vacuum of leadership.

There has always been a kind of imperialistic ingredient in the mind of the Iranians. The Shah of Iran had the same mindset. But he began his imperial plans prematurely. As Iran always has been an empire with the political, economic, cultural and religious structure of an empire, a large part of it has been separated from it. It is estimated that Iran has lost about three million square meters to its neighbours in 18 and 19th centuries. The only problem for the empire building of Iran is Shiism which was the source of disintegration of Iran in the past. Iranian Shiism is designed to hate Sunnis and whatever shape and form it is given now; its inbuilt hatred for the Sunnis will prevent its global leadership of the Islamic world. As the Iranian Sunnis have experienced bitterly, the Iranian Shiism expresses itself in full force persecution and suppression of the Sunnis. Yet the Iranian leaders have been able to conceal the persecution of Sunnis in Iran and pretend that they are preaching a generous brand of Shiism which envisages all aspirations of Moslems.

There are about 20 million Sunnis in Iran and there has not been even one single minister Sunni in Iran in the last 30 years. Plus, the impoverishing policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Sunni areas have caused immense poverty as 76 percent of the Baluch Sunnis of Iran live under poverty line. The Islamic Republic of Iran cannot hide its discriminatory attitude and its incompetence in handling domestic issues for a long-time. Ahmadinejad and Iran's government are among the most incompetent countries in the world as an assessment by the World Bank of competence and the efficiency in different countries showed that the government of Ahmadinejad scored only three out of ten; clearly proving that Iran is among the worst managed countries in the world. With such a background, it is difficult for the Iranian regime to lead the Islamic world although it has been able to generate considerable influence among the Shia community.

As much as the Islamic regime of Iran has failed in delivering the promises of prosperity, equality, integrity, and the welfare state in Iran, it has succeeded in its foreign policy of exporting Shiism and its power of legitimacy. Khomeini’s global vision had the power of empowering the Shias in the Middle East but not the power to empower the Shias of Iran to build Iran. The Shias of the Middle East will remember the Islamic regime as their builder and the Shias of Iran will remember it as their destroyer.