Friday, September 7, 2007

Analysis: Iran looks to Africa

By Derek Sands from UPI

Iran’s interest in Africa may not only be driven by practical business reasons. A desire to spread its own brand of Shia Islam may also motivate Tehran, according to James Phillips, a Middle East analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank. Iran’s radical regime sees itself as the vanguard of Islamic revolution throughout the Muslim world and it seeks to expand its influence, particularly in opposition to Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi influence. So there is kind of an ideological competition going on with Saudi Arabia, as well as ideological confrontation with the United States and the West," Phillips said.

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