Iran’s Play for Middle Eastern Leadership Where It Comes From and Why It Can’t Last

Foreign Affairs January 20, 2017 | https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2017-01-20/iran-s-play-middle-eastern-leadership

Iran’s Play for Middle Eastern Leadership

Where It Comes From and Why It Can’t Last

By Tarek Osman

For the first time since the demise of the Qajar dynasty in the early twentieth century, Iran is extending its political and military reach to what it considers its rightful sphere of influence: Mesopotamia and the areas of the eastern Mediterranean and Arabian Peninsula with sizeable Shiite communities.https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2017-01-20/iran-s-play-middle-eastern-leadership