Iran has a Shia network that reaches from Afghanistan to Lebanon once again... more connections building along the Persian Gulf... Yemeni Shias to the south... and Shia connections along the oil rich Caspian Sea.
Suddenly Iran has its mortal enemy Surrounded, and we could see the current unrest spread to the nearly two million Shia that live and work on Saudi Arabia's oil fields very soon. Even though that's exactly what the Saudis — and the Pentagon — hope will never happen.
Not only is Saudi Arabia home to Mecca, Islam's holiest place... but it's also home to the corrupt and U.S.-supported Royal House of Saud, considered an insult to all Islam by the Shia.
For centuries, the Shia have been the underclass. Sunni schools teach that Shiites aren't real Muslims. Shias don't get a seat in government. They can't become judges or even testify in high courts. In Sunni-run Saudi Arabia, Shias and Sunni can't even marry.
There are as many as two million of that Shia underclass in Saudi Arabia, with a 1,354-year-old axe to grind. It's a near-perfect formula for a FULL-ON war. And the fuse is already lit.
For eight years back in the 1980s, Saudi Arabia helped Iraq wage a bloody war against Iran. Along with other Sunni governments, the Saudis even gave Saddam over $47 billion to launch missiles and nerve gas attacks over the Iranian border.
Iran hasn't forgotten or forgiven. Iran has waited to make the Saudis pay — and now they have their chance.
Iran is ready to assert its place in the world. Think Japan or Germany in the 1930s. The threat is there, it's large, and it's not going away anytime soon.
But now, for the first time in history, they see this as their chance to turn the tide.
Bob C