THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL TRADITIONS IN ARABO-IRANIAN RELATIONS

Abstract

In the last decades Iran became one of the powerful states in the Middle East. Today Iran plays a significant role in political, economic, social, religious and ideological issues of the region. Iran’s politics shape major developments in regional security and international relations in the Middle East, pursuing active policy towards Arab countries in the region. Iran plays an active role in military conflicts in several Arab countries (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Libya). However, Iran’s involvement in the inner-political life of Arab countries; their societies, security affairs, and politics strengthens tensions and hostility between Arabs and Iran. The existing strains in Arabo-Iranian relations provoke the religious strife in the Middle East that takes different forms, among which are Sunny-Shiite conflicts. The worsening of Arabo-Iranian relations encourages new conflicts; it undermines power balance and destabilizes security in the Middle East. The long history of Arabo-Iranian relations still influences Iran’s policy in the Middle East. Ethnic and sectarian differences and the historical Arab-Persian rivalry reflected the major orientation of Iran’s foreign policy in general and determine some major parameters of Arabo-Iranian relations in the Middle East, in particular. Before the Arab conquest of Iran the interactions between Arabs and Iran had had many positive dimensions. The Islamization of Iran and its partial Arabization dramatically changed Iran’s cultural, social, and political development. These processes challenged the behavioral patterns of many Iranians towards Arabs and vice versa. Since that time the ethnic identity of two peoples, their adherences to Sunnis and Shiites have acquired antagonistic overtones. In this view, research of Arabization and Islamization processes as one of the main drivers of Arabo-Iranian relations and Iranian policy in the Middle East proves to be a pressing subject of grave importance.