A point of collaboration with Iran?
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 1:37AM WORLD NEWS: "Volatile Sistan-Baluchistan Region Is Base for Insurgents," by Chip Cummins, Wall Street Journal, 19 October 2009.
A murky Sunni insurgency based on the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan is tagged for the recent suicide bomb. The group, Jundallah, claims Tehran has repressed the Sunni minority there. No doubt.
Tehran is fearful of cracking down too hard, worrying that any such attempt will only draw more radical Sunni players from Af-Pak. Recently, the Revolutionary Guards have taken over the security of this southeastern region, thus the target of the recent attack.
To date, Jundallah has never posed a serious threat to the regime.
The temptation, of course, is to view this group as another way to attack the regime from within, but the incident also reminds us that Iran has a lot of similar concerns when it comes to radical Sunni groups. Massage the nuclear issue and there's plenty of room for regional cooperation. Plus, the more you draw Iran out on its Sunni fears, the more you discredit the regime's attempts to portray itself as the great Islamic leader.
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