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Iran's Biggest Worry: Growing Ethnic Conflict

[TIME] Robert Baer - What really keeps the mullahs up at night is not a velvet revolution but the specter of ethnic and sectarian conflict - more attacks like the bombing on Oct. 18 in Sistan-Baluchistan which killed 42 people including five senior officers of the Revolutionary Guards Corps. The hard truth for Iran is that ethnic Persians make up only 51% of the population. Jundallah, the ethnic Baluch group that claimed responsibility for the attack, is an indigenous movement. The body of its financing comes from Baluch expatriates, many in the Gulf, and Islamic charities. The Bush administration at one point considered Jundallah as a piece in a covert-action campaign against Iran, but the idea was quickly dropped because Jundallah was judged uncontrollable and too close to al-Qaeda. There was no way to be certain that Jundallah would not throw the bombs we paid for back at us.
2009-10-22 06:00:00
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