Bahrain Crisis and Regional Security of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Ongoing developments in the Middle East and North Africa, especially in the Persian Gulf, are subject of international debates. The situation in a number of regional countries has become unstable and chaotic, which has had certain consequences at regional and international levels. These profound developments, whose various dimensions grow every day, are taking place in a region of high importance to international politics, and they will have significant short- and long-term effects on international system. The Islamic Republic of Iran as one of the major powers in this region can both affect and be affected more than other countries by unrest in the neighboring states (including Bahrain). During the past century, especially following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran has been trying to boost its regional role and status. Therefore, it has regularly defended regional arrangements which would guarantee the status and role that the Islamic Republic of Iran deserves. To what extent these developments may shape a new order which may define the status of each regional player in a new way? The main question of this study is what effect, from the viewpoint of Iran, can the crisis in Bahrain have on the security of the Persian Gulf and regional status of Iran? The most important presumption is that such crises (like the fall of the Baathist regime in Iraq and the crisis in Bahrain) which affect Arab countries that are allies of the West, will change the power of the existing regional players in the Persian Gulf, including Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and increase the regional clout of the Islamic Republic of Iran.