Sadr—another tool of the Iranians

It appears Tehran is once again employing one of its proven tools in Iraq.

Thousands of supporters of radical Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr protested in Iraq on March 4. The protest in the city of Al Amarah, south of Baghdad, was accompanied by anti-U.S. rhetoric from Sadr.

Sadr is the anti-U.S. cleric who only a few years ago led the bloody uprisings against American forces and was responsible for some of the worst violence in Iraq. Whether radical outlaw or political kingmaker, Sadr—under the guidance of Iran—has always had as his goal the expulsion of U.S. troops and influence from Iraq.

Sadr returned to Iraq this January after spending several years in Iran boosting his religious credentials and receiving guidance from Tehran. His return to Iraq “was a deliberate message to Washington that Tehran was reinserting its main destabilizing tool in Iraq as U.S. forces continued their withdrawal,” Stratfor writes. “That tool did not necessarily need to be activated right away but could be used by Tehran to stir up tensions and grab U.S. attention whenever the need arose” (March 4).

With the recent protests, it appears that time may have arrived. Stratfor continues:

The sustained tensions in Bahrain and unrest in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait look to be part of a broader destabilization campaign by the Iranians in the Persian Gulf. This campaign has been timed to exploit the unrest in North Africa as a useful cover and to catch the Sunni Arab states at their most vulnerable now that U.S. forces are withdrawing from Iraq.Deploying Sadr is one of many ways Iran can project power against the United States amid the current regional chaos.

Keep watching for Iran to instigate—and take advantage of—the unrest sweeping the Middle East to fulfill its own regional goals of hegemony.