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Where Did Iran's Arab Supporters Go?

(Al Arabiya) Abdulrahman al-Rashed - What has befallen Iran is no small matter; its military losses and nuclear facilities are immense, facilities that cost billions of dollars and much blood and sweat to build. To its ballistic and nuclear losses, we can add the loss of the popular current it had cultivated across the region, from Iraq to Morocco. The collapse of Iranian influence is clear within Arab regions. When the Lebanese government took its bold decision to confiscate Hizbullah's weapons, the response in the street was limited. In the wake of Iran's defeat, a sense of shock and betrayal spread across the region, which had been waiting for the liberation of Palestine. Iran once enjoyed dominance and popular support in the region. It managed to raise generations of Arabs on its ideas. Tehran opened its doors and arms to extremist Sunnis, including leaders of al-Qaeda, and supported most Sunni opposition groups against their governments. It built a deeply coordinated relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood. It climbed onto many Arab media outlets to promote Khamenei's line. Tehran was managing elite and grassroots movements in dozens of Arab cities. But in the recent wars, following the Oct. 2023 attacks, the kind of mobilization we were used to in every confrontation faded. One reason is that people do not admire the defeated. The second is that the apparatuses that used to orchestrate these movements have lost their connections and their resources. The Arab street venerates the victorious hero until he falls, then replaces him with another hero. The remaining challenge for Iran is to hold on to its supporters within its Shiite popular base. With time, the Shias of Lebanon will come to realize the truth: that they are victims of Hizbullah and Iran, that it is a burden on them rather than a support. For four decades they have borne the confrontation with Israel and the consequences of ties with Iran: economic and personal sanctions, and the destruction of their neighborhoods. The writer is chairman of Al Arabiya's editorial board.
2025-08-21 00:00:00
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