Impact of Regional Salafism upon National Security of the Islamic Republic of Iran

The Salafi movement in the Middle East is rooted in Islam’s past as currently manifested in the al-Qaeda organization. This paper seeks to investigate social and cultural dimensions and implications, and the ideology arising from the performance of regional Salafi movement, as well as its impact on national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The important point here is that Iran is faced with the al-Qaeda threat from two aspects: First, ideological dimension (their anti-Shia propaganda) and the second territorial aspect (their vast activities in Iran’s three neighboring countries namely Afghanistan, Pakistan andIraq). A glance at the ethnic moves in recent years displays that ethnic challenge particularly in the country’s Sunni-populated areas has taken a religious form in terms of nature and method of emergence especially in the eastern area.