But he yet failed to do so as Khuzestan’s locals sided with their government, and many of them fought courageously against invading Iraqi forces.ĭespite this history of Ahwazi Arab loyalty, as Saudi-Iranian proxy wars intensify-most recently in Lebanon and Yemen-Iranian officials are blaming violence in Khuzestan on GCC states, namely Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Saddam Hussein, who long championed various Arab causes, sought to turn Iran’s Arab minority against the Islamic Republic during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). Inhabitants of this Iranian province are tribally, culturally, and ethnically linked to segments of Iraq’s Arab population. In this way they have demonstrated support for Saudi efforts to contain the expansion of Iranian influence in these two Sunni-majority Arab countries.
Certain Iranian Arabs have expressed solidarity with the Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting the Houthi rebels allied with Tehran as well as the Sunni rebels fighting the Iranian-backed Syrian regime. At international soccer games involving Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, some Ahwazi Arabs have chanted slogans against their government steeped in Arab nationalism as they show support for teams visiting from Persian Gulf Arab states. Nonetheless, since the mid/late-2000s, armed Arab separatist insurgent groups such as the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA) have conducted scores of attacks on energy infrastructure, government buildings, and security forces in Khuzestan.Īs most Iranian Arabs in Khuzestan practice Shi’ite Islam, violent unrest in this province has unfolded as a largely ethnic conflict. To be sure, the majority of Ahwazi Arabs are non-violent and do not wish for Khuzestan to spiral into tumult as have many other parts of the Middle East. Earlier this year anti-government demonstrators took to the streets of Khuzestan after 11 of the province’s cities experienced power outages amid a dust storm, ultimately ending in riots.
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At al-Asakirah’s funeral, many attendees voiced their grievances against the Islamic Republic, leading to a crackdown and a series of arrests. In 2015, Younes al-Asakirah-a street vendor in Khorramshahr-set himself on fire to protest injustice in Khuzestan, setting off a series of protests throughout the province. In 2011, a popular revolt in Ahvaz, which drew inspiration from the Arab Spring uprisings, resulted in security forces killing 15 Ahwazi Arabs demonstrating against Iran’s regime. Since the mid-2000s, when a series of bombings tore through Khuzestan, friction between the Iranian state and militant Ahwazi Arab separatists has intensified. Separatist movements in Khuzestan include both militant factions such as the Ahwaz Arab Renaissance Party and non-violent ones. Having exercised various degrees of autonomy throughout Iran’s pre-1979 history, segments of the Iranian Arab population dream of establishing an independent and oil-rich Ahwazi Arab state in southwestern Iran. Although officials in Tehran deny such human rights abuses, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other organizations that document the oppression of minority groups have found the Ahwazi Arabs’ complaints to be legitimate. This resource-rich yet underserved Iranian province-situated across the border from Iraq’s Basra province-is home to approximately two million Iranians who are ethnically Arab, commonly referred to as Ahwazi Arabs, as well as more than 90 percent of Iran’s oil capacity.Īhwazi Arabs in Khuzestan have grievances about state-sponsored oppression, discrimination, marginalization, environmental hazards, and poverty under Persian/Iranian rule. Unsurprisingly, however, one area of the Arab world where Tehran does not promote marginalized Shi’ite resistance against the authorities is Khuzestan (also known as Arabistan). Since 1979, Iran’s regime has sought to champion itself as a defender of oppressed Shi’ite Arabs across the Middle East.
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