Arab shiites in the shadow of téhéran

Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Middle East has often been viewed through a simplistic lens: “Iranian influence” over Arab Shiites. But what does this influence really entail? Are the Shiites of Iraq, Lebanon, the Gulf, or Yemen merely proxies for Tehran, or are they societies rooted in their own histories, their holy cities, their national wounds, and their local struggles?
In this clear, dense, and highly relevant historical essay, Alain Monnier shifts the perspective. He does not start from Tehran, but from Najaf, Karbala, Basra, Beirut, Bahrain, Qatif, Saada, and the Straits of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb. The author demonstrates that Iran did not create the Arab Shiite worlds: it encountered communities that were already ancient, often marginalized, sometimes humiliated, yet bearers of autonomous religious, social, and political traditions. The manuscript emphasizes a central idea: Arab Shiism is neit