Iran repopulates Syria with Shia Muslims

[Friends of Baloch]

Iran repopulates Syria with Shia Muslims to help tighten regime's control | World news | The Guardian

[Elite Pakhtun]

Iranian influence is heavy. Imagine if Hillary had won. The same person who said we came we saw he died...

To Israel's credit, they made a few attacks on Assad's regime. Missile strikes.

[Shapur]

I say well played Iran, they beat Saudis at their own game. The Saudi need to acknowledge their defeat in this proxy war and dont act like sore losers.

[Elite Pakhtun]

I say well played Iran, they beat Saudis at their own game. The Saudi need to acknowledge their defeat in this proxy war and dont act like sore losers.

It's not even close to being over. Iran recieved a blow with the Democrat defeat in the US.

They're playing the long game. It's a dirty game. If Assad gets knocked out, or ISIS gains power, the story changes very quickly.

Segway: Is there some connection with Tajik nationalists and Iran?

[Shapur]

It's not even close to being over. Iran recieved a blow with the Democrat defeat in the US.

They're playing the long game. It's a dirty game. If Assad gets knocked out, or ISIS gains power, the story changes very quickly.

Segway: Is there some connection with Tajik nationalists and Iran?

Yes, good point about Iran putting all their eggs in Russia's basket. If it wasn't for Russia, Iran alone couldn't have done anything without Russian air support. Trump might make things interesting as well regarding Iran but Trump seems to agree with the Russian plan and has said he will not support Insurgents except maybe Kurds. This is why Iran is not just relying on Assad who could be discarded by Russia or the west at any time so they are thinking long term in trying repopulate southern and western Syria with Shias which will give them significant foothold in the Arab world as theg already have Iraq in their back pocket.

Regarding, iran's support for Tajiks, its yes and no. Iran supported Shia Hazaras against the Tajik Massoud and it seems religious affiliation is more important to Ayatollahs than ethnic or cultural affiliation, at least for now. I wouldn't be surprised if Iran supported Pashtun Taliban against Tajik Northern alliance simply to get rid of Americans from Afghanistan and Tajiks are in Americas camo so their interests collide. Tajik nationalists don't expect much from Iran given the Ayatollahs track record but there will always be that cultural connection due to having same language and similar culture. Many Tajiks nationalists complain of Iran efforts to take credit for the acheivements of Tajiks and relate everything to modern Iran so there is that mistrust and tension there plus the treatment of Tajiks in Iran as refugees although most of the discrimination is against Hazaras. If there is regime change in Iran then I think a less religion focused Iranian regime sould be more closer to Tajiks and Afghanistan as a whole. Iran's primary interest right now is the export of its shia islamic revolution and wilaytul faqih doctrine to Shia Arabs, not pan persian nationalism.

[Win Butler]

It's not even close to being over. Iran recieved a blow with the Democrat defeat in the US.

They're playing the long game. It's a dirty game. If Assad gets knocked out, or ISIS gains power, the story changes very quickly.

Segway: Is there some connection with Tajik nationalists and Iran?

Hillary was very anti-Iran as well and was more likely to bolster support for the rebels in Syria. Trump has indicated that he wants to cooperate with Russia on Syria which benefits Iran. His defense secretary and national security advisor are very anti-Iran in their rhetoric though.

The likes of Ismail Khan, Atta Muhammad Nur, Latif Pedram, etc. have some links to Iran but generally speaking Iran prefers Hazaras due to their common religious background. Iran's Revolutionary Guard has increased its support for the Taliban in areas like Farah and Herat recently.

[Elite Pakhtun]

Hillary was very anti-Iran as well and was more likely to bolster support for the rebels in Syria. Trump has indicated that he wants to cooperate with Russia on Syria which benefits Iran. His defense secretary and national security advisor are very anti-Iran in their rhetoric though.

Are you sure? I agree that Trump has said stuff that make warmer relations with Russia possible, but Democrats' relationship with Iran was fairly positive in Obama's tenure. Sanctions were lifted, and during the Trump campaign, this was a point that was argued to be a big mistake.

I don't have all the answers, and it's hard to see what will happen, but I think for certain the Democrats were more open to warmer relations with Iran vs Republicans.

[Firdousi]

It's not even close to being over. Iran recieved a blow with the Democrat defeat in the US.

They're playing the long game. It's a dirty game. If Assad gets knocked out, or ISIS gains power, the story changes very quickly.

Segway: Is there some connection with Tajik nationalists and Iran?

Not really. Iran is a fascist Shiite regime. They don't really care about Persian culture nor those close to Persian people. The sooner we get rid of that evil negative force the better for all of us.

Iranian regime has not future anyway. Most of Iranians despise it. Its a matter of time.

[Firdousi]

I say well played Iran, they beat Saudis at their own game. The Saudi need to acknowledge their defeat in this proxy war and dont act like sore losers.

That game was started by Iran not by Saudi Arabia. Iranian regime wants to export her Islamic Republic system to the entire Islamic world. Its an existencial threat to KSA.

Screw both regimes, BTW.

[Shapur]

That game was started by Iran not by Saudi Arabia. Iranian regime wants to export her Islamic Republic system to the entire Islamic world. Its an existencial threat to KSA.

Screw both regimes, BTW.

Both parties are equally guilty of instigating sectarianism in islamic countries and we will be better off without these divisive mullahs. They both deny being the guilty party or accept any blame because they both believe they are on a holy missikn or something. Its only a matter of time before both the educated Iranians and Saudis have had enough of these despotic mullahs.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

Iran is winning on all fronts. In Afghanistan they sponsor Shiites, Tajik nationalists and even provide support to Taliban and al Qaeda to undermine American puppet government in Kabul.

In Syria they have successfully defeated the Gulf states, Turkey and the Americans.

The future of Sunnis looks very bad.

[Elite Pakhtun]

Iran is winning on all fronts. In Afghanistan they sponsor Shiites, Tajik nationalists and even provide support to Taliban and al Qaeda to undermine American puppet government in Kabul.

In Syria they have successfully defeated the Gulf states, Turkey and the Americans.

The future of Sunnis looks very bad.

You're right. They are certainly ahead right now. I would probably remove the Americans from the list though. If the Americans were actively involved, and were against Assad, chances are high he would've been deposed a while ago.

The biggest issue is that it's very easy for the "Western" (for lack of better terms) public to hate Sunnis. There's a lot of negative sentiment towards that. So even if a rebellion has grass roots support, like Taliban or ISIS, they will be perceived negatively by the US public, which affects their involvement.

Whether we like it or not, as it stands, we have more tied with the Sunnis, than with the Shias. I'm not the most religious guy, but I know what hand I'm dealt, and this is it. I could spend a lot of time talking about what I know about Iranian nationalists (especially the anti-Islam ones), but it's not relevant at this juncture.