To Iranian eyes, Kurdish unrest spells Saudi incitement

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS | Sun Sep 4, 2016 7:31am EDT

To Iranian eyes, Kurdish unrest spells Saudi incitement

By Babak Dehghanpisheh | BEIRUT

A decision by a Kurdish opposition group to take up arms against Iranian authorities has senior officials in Tehran worrying that Saudi Arabia is seeking to undermine its stability in a deepening of their regional rivalry.

Riyadh denies the charge. But tension between the two countries is surging, with Saudi Arabia and Iran supporting opposite sides in wars in Syria and Yemen and rival political parties in Iraq and Lebanon. The contest has largely hewed along sectarian lines as mainly Shi'ite Iran and Saudi Arabia, a predominantly Sunni country, vie for influence.

That competition, officials in Tehran worry, has now spread inside their borders, thanks to what they fear is Riyadh's exploitation of the Islamic Republic's communal rifts.

They point to clashes -- the first in almost 20 years -- between the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) fighters and Revolutionary Guards in the northwest in June and July that left several dead on both sides.

As fighting escalated, Iranian forces shelled suspected Kurdish military bases in northern Iraq, raising the prospect that the conflict could spread across the border.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-politics-kurds-idUSKCN11A0BD

[DetlefK]

1. Iran treated the Kurds very badly throughout the years.

Assad is Iran's lackey and therefore an enemy of Saudi-Arabia.
The Kurds are fighting Assad's regime to establish a kurdish state on syrian territory.
Iran is denying that the Kurds even exist as an ethnic group: Per the iranian constitution there is no such thing as ethnic groups.

Is it any wonder then that the Kurds are fighting Iran??? Is doesn't need Saudi-Arabia to incite that. Iran can do this very well all by themselves.