1.Iraq: as an important Shi’ah-majority Arab country, Iraq was a good channel for the export of the Islamic Revolution as well as its presence in the Arab world; Because the Iraqi Shi’ahs were fighting with the Ba’athist regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in Iran had profoundly influenced them, and the establishment of Shi’ah opposition and revolutionary organizations in the country posed a serious threat to the stability of the Ba’athist regime. From the very first months after the emergence of the Islamic Revolution, when Iran’s revolutionary leaders openly spoke of the Revolution, popular protests spread in Iraq, and Ayatollah al-Sadr played a role in Iraq which Imam Khomeini played in Iran. Issuing the fatwa of the forbiddance of joining the Ba’ath party by Ayatollah al-Sadr, who became the leader of Iraqi Shi’ahs, showed that Shi’ahs are more eager to follow the model of the Iranian Revolution more than any other country.
The martyrdom of Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda al-Sadr in early April 1980 caused Imam Khomeini to send a message to the Iraqi army and people calling for an uprising to overthrow Saddam’s government. Therefore, fighting against the Ba’athist regime intensified in the country, the peak of which was the confrontation between the “Islamic Da’wah Party” with the Ba’athist regime and the formation of the “The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq” with the aim of fighting the government. Such a situation became a concern for Saddam and other authoritarian leaders of the Arab countries. With the increase of the uprisings against Saddam, he considered the Iranian Revolution as the greatest opportunity for and a threat to his system, and finally, he attacked Iran with all his might. However, the issue of border disputes seemed to be the main reason for Iraq’s invasion of Iranian territory; But in fact, Iraq’s invasion of Iran was the result of the dissatisfaction of the international and regional powers with the Islamic Revolution and the fear of its expansion into the region as well as the protection of the interests of the conservative Arab governments.
2) Saudi Arabia: Among the Muslim movements in the region which while being influenced by the Islamic Revolution occurred in the first year after the Revolution was the unrest and outbreak caused by the Saudi Muslim Brotherhood in November 1979 in protest at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Although this event had no direct connection with Iran, the psychological reflection of the Revolution has been an effective factor in this event.
In this incident, led by Juhayman al-Utaybi, Masjid al-Haram was captured by Sunni fighters for two weeks, and while the Saudi government was concerned about the capture of the Masjid al-Haram, another incident took place in the wealthy provinces of al-Ahsa and Qatif. Furthermore, there were other uprisings, in which Saudi Shi’ahs, who have been inspired by the Iranian Revolution, were outraged by the discrimination of Sunni rulers calling for a fair distribution of oil revenues and public services. On the other hand, in order to counter the Shi’ah uprisings, the Saudi rulers, while adopting a policy based on persuasion and eliminating some shortcomings, began to suppress the dissatisfactions with greater intensity to prevent the effects of the Iranian Revolution. It is important to note that following the policy of preventing the export of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, Saudi Arabia had been one of the most important financial backers of the Iraq war. In addition, this country established the “Persian Gulf Cooperation Council” with the direct support of the United States and the Arab countries in order to guarantee its own security.
3) Bahrain: Bahrain is the centre of Shi’ah resurrection among the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, because of its large Shi’ah population and having the history of Shi’ah fundamentalism. There has always been animosity between those Shi’ahs and the central government. Following the Islamic Revolution, the country’s Shi’ahs emerged as a powerful movement in the country, and under the influence of the Islamic Revolution, as well as the supports of Iranian revolutionaries, they made several moves against their rulers, including a speech delivered by Hadi Modarresi in 1979 which led to two public demonstrations taking place on August 17th (for commemorating al-Quds Day) and August 19th (to protest the arrest of Modarresi) and ultimately his deportation on August 31st.
In April 1980, following the Bahraini rulers’ implicit confirmation of the execution of Ayatollah al-Sadr by the Iraqi regime, the conflicts intensified again, prompting government forces to suppress any demonstrations managed by Bahraini Shi’ahs. Also, with Iraq’s invasion of Iran and the subsequent joining of Bahrain in the security pact with Saudi Arabia, and finally the formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council, although was largely hindered the process of the export of the revolution in that country; yet, there were still roots and grounds for the uprising in Bahrain. On the other hand, Bahraini government forces continued to violently oppress the Shi’ah uprisings, which was the result of the deprivation of the majority of Shi’ahs comparing to the Sunni minority. Among those actions was the suppression of a coup d’état that took place by the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain in 1981.
Despite the suppression of Shi’ah opposition, most of which was attributed to Iran, the uprisings continued. The most important of them was the 1994 crackdown. However, albeit the containment of the movement, the Shi’ahs continued their protests until the government would submit to holding parliamentary elections. Finally, the Bahraini rulers, being afraid of the reformist movements in recent years, ended these uprisings by granting more freedoms to the Bahraini people and allowing the Shi’ah representatives to take seats in the National Assembly.
4. Kuwait: The Kuwaiti government, which considered the pre-revolutionary regime in Iran a regional power, a supporter of the status quo and an ally, never wanted the political and security situation in the region to change in such a way as to have a negative impact on the government, territorial integrity, and national security of Kuwait. That is why the Kuwaiti officials prevented Imam Khomeini from entering Kuwait.
After the triumph of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, Kuwaiti officials who wanted to maintain the status quo in the Persian Gulf region, like other countries in the region, treated the Islamic Revolution with precautions and were forced to change their policies and establish bilateral relations with Iran. After the Revolution, the Shi’ah minority of Kuwait and Iranians living in that country welcomed the changes in Iran and the establishment of a religious system, and Hujjat al Islam Abbas Mehri, who was one of Imam Khomeini’s relatives, took the initiative in Kuwait. Despite his deportation from Kuwait due to his political speeches, the Kuwaiti Shi’ahs organized themselves as part through the “Hezbollah of Kuwait” political movement and staged the uprisings, including bombings and anti-government activities near the United States and France embassies in which Iran, of course, denied any involvement. The Kuwaiti officials also tried to expel the Iranians living in Kuwait in order to resolve these currents and prevent them from turning into a revolution, and after some time, they took control of the oppositions by establishing the National Assembly and using the Shi’ah ministers.
5. Syria: The impact of the Islamic Revolution of Iran on Syria is quite distinct from that of any other country. The most noticeable manifestation of this Revolution has been the transformation of the two states into strategic allies. The phenomenon of exporting the revolution, as the first message of the Islamic Revolution, was a way to unite and attract the Islamic Ummah in terms of denying authoritarian and dependent governments in the Islamic and the Arab worlds. Therefore, in this regard, the convergence of the Islamic Revolution of Iran with a government, which was officially followed the Ba’athist nationalist-socialist ideology, was not expected. The reason behind this strategic alliance was that Iran and Syria’s supports of Lebanon and Palestine against Israel, their unity in the fight against Zionism, and their objections to the expansion of United States military activity in the Persian Gulf and the establishment of a base in the region, as well as the economic needs of the two, all in all, contributed to the expansion of the relationships between the two countries. This cooperation was to such an extent that even some Syrian Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, which had expanded their activities under the influence of the Islamic Revolution, began to favour Saddam’s regime because of the expansion of the relations between Iran and Syria and launched propaganda campaigns against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
6. Palestine: Since one of the main ideals of the Islamic Revolution was supporting the oppressed people of the world, the Palestinian issue had been seen at the forefront of Iran’s goals from the beginning, and Iran’s foreign policy was based on defending Palestine and confronting Israel until its elimination. However, Iran was one of the countries that defended the interests of the Zionist regime before the Islamic Revolution; But after the Revolution, it became the centre of the struggle, took the leadership position in this regard, whereas the leaders of the Arab countries had stopped fighting by signing the Camp David Accords, and encouraged the Palestinians that they could defend their rights. Iran has taken many steps to help the Palestinian people, including accepting senior Palestinian officials in the early days of the Islamic Revolution, turning the Israeli consulate into a Palestinian embassy, announcing the last Friday of Ramadan as the International al-Quds Day, providing Palestine with financial and humanitarian aids, diplomatic and political support of Palestine, opposing the compromise and peace plans, and establishing a fund to support the Palestinian people, etc.
Measures taken regarding the Palestinian issue have had various impacts, the most important of which are: Announcing the emergence of two groups “Islamic Jihad” and “Islamic Resistance Organization or Hamas” after the Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Jihad’s public supports of Iran and following it as a role model, using the methods of the Hezbollah in Lebanon by Hamas in the fight against Israel, complete engagement of the Palestinian people in the fight against Israel, relying on the Islamic ideal to save the Palestinian nation and avoiding following the patterns which are based on nationalism, the wars waged for liberating the left parts, the weakening of the alliance of the Islamist groups with world powers and the political and military empowerment of those groups.
7. Lebanon: Lebanon is the best place in terms of accepting the revolutionary ideas of Islam, and clearly this Revolution led by Imam Khomeini has had a direct impact on Lebanon, especially the Shi’ahs. The overthrow of the Pahlavi regime in Iran has become a model for the struggle against occupation and injustice in Lebanese society, and Shi’ahs in this country while abandoning some models such as Nazism and adopting a Shi’ah model rooted in Iran, began to fight for their rights in Lebanon. In this regard, the Shi’ah Islamic groups such as Hezbollah and Amal Movement, and even some Sunni Islamic groups, such as the Islamic Unification Movement, have grown under the direct influence of the Iranian Revolution, and as a result, not only Lebanon became the channel for the Islamic Revolution’s presence in the Arab world, but also, it has become the most important channel for influencing the issues of Jerusalem and Palestine, as well as the conflict between the Arabs and the Zionist regime. In this regard, the successful role played by the Shi’ahs in the Lebanese domestic scene and the confrontation with Israel in the last decade has definitely been considered a practical reflection of the Islamic Revolution in this country. The Iranian Revolution paved the way for the emergence of a Shi’ah movement in southern Lebanon offering them the hope of gaining freedom and independence. Therefore, with the withdrawal of Israel from southern Lebanon in 2000 and the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 by Israel in 2006, Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance, as the two arms of the Islamic Revolution both of which are inspired by the Revolution, the Islamic ideology, as well as the theory of Wilayat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurisprudent), became the effective military and political forces in the country in addition to being able to expel Israel from southern Lebanon such that it can now be argued that without considering their views and demands, no agreement would be reached in Lebanon which has a sectarian diversity.
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