Word: sunni
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Iran, the hard truth is that ethnic Persians make up only 51% of the population. The rest of the country is a mishmash of ethnic minorities, various religions, Muslim sects and semi-nomadic tribes. None has been entirely happy living under the mullahs' Shi'ite theocracy, especially Iran's Sunni citizens, which make up 9% of the population and include most of the Baluch. Iran's minorities have been susceptible to outside influences, but rarely have they felt strong enough to take on Tehran - which fears that that could change with the chaos at its borders. If, for instance...
Sunday's suicide terrorism attack that killed at least five commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps could have an impact far beyond the Islamic Republic's restive southeast border with Pakistan. Although the attack was orchestrated by the Sunni extremist group Jundullah - a separatist organization based among the Baluchi ethnic group that spans the Iran-Pakistan border and has for years conducted low-key terrorism strikes - many in Tehran blamed the bombing on a covert campaign by Western intelligence agencies to destabilize Iran. And that could cast a shadow over President Barack Obama's delicately poised effort to engage...
...strike appeared to have been aimed, in keeping with Jundullah's agenda, at escalating hostilities between the government in Tehran, dominated by Shi'ite Persians, and the Baluchi minority. The attack involved a suicide bomber entering a mosque in the city of Pisheen during a meeting between local Sunni and Shi'ite leaders that was organized by the Revolutionary Guards to improve dialogue between the two communities. A second bomber struck a vehicle containing several Guards officers. The dead included the lieutenant commander of the Guards' ground forces in all of Iran as well as the Guards commander...
...their part, Saudi Arabia's leaders have grown increasingly worried about the rising power of Iran. The Persian and Shi'ite dominated Islamic Republic is both a religious and racial challenge to Arab and Sunni Saudi Arabia's dominance of the region, and Iran has deftly exploited the divisions in the Arab world by allying itself with radical anti-Israeli movements, in concert with Syria. With Iran's ongoing nuclear-development program - which many Arab countries suspect is a cover for producing weapons - raising those concerns to a fever pitch, Saudi Arabia has decided it can no longer afford open...
...well as offshore air and missile capabilities to inflict harsh punishment when necessary. To contain threats, Washington needs to form alliances with neighboring states like Pakistan, India, China, Russia and even Iran, which supported us in the early days of the war. All share an interest in combatting Sunni-based religious extremism as well as the drug trade...