Leaked cables show Gulf leery of Shiite expansion
The Gulf states are concerned about the growing influence of Shiites in neighboring countries, expressing their fears of the relations established between the Shiites of Iran and Iraq and their own Shiite communities.
Graham E. Fuller, an American author and political analyst who specializes in Islamic extremism, published in 1999 a book titled “The Arab Shi’a: The Forgotten Muslims,” in which he focused on the Shiite communities in the Arab world, from the Gulf states to Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. Today, Arab Shiites are no longer ignored, as they were throughout the long history of the region, thanks to the rise of the Shiite political identity in Iraq, establishing a bridge between Iranian and Arab Shiites.
Given the geopolitical situation of Iraq, Iraq's Shiites have long-standing historical ties with Iran’s Shiites on one side, and with Arab Shiites in other Arab countries, such as Kuwait, Bahrain and Lebanon, on the other.
The most important and oldest Shiite religious institution, the Najaf seminary south of Baghdad, brings together Shiite clergy from the Indian subcontinent to Iran and the Arab world.
The Shiites of Iraq have close relationships with the Gulf states, mainly Kuwait and Bahrain, given the historical neighborly relations between them and their common affiliation to the most prominent Arab clans and tribes, such as the Rabiah and Khaz’al tribal groups.
