2011 Joint Area Centers Symposium
Session 3: Iran and the Middle East

"Arab-Iranian Relations - When History and Politics Dominate"
Mahjoob Zweiri (Qatar University)

Chair: Merle Bowen (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Arabs and Iranians had shared for thousands of years the same geopolitical landscape. Such reality can be seen even before Islam . Changing religion within the majority of Iranian society had added another element of engagement as well. In more than 1400 years both nations has contributed to shape the frame of what so called Islamic civilization. That contribution did not mean that there were absolute agreement between them. Differences and indeed conflicts have been seen in the near past. This paper will not be about the history of the relation, rather it is an attempt to understand the developments, actions and reactions related to these relations in particular in last 30 years. The paper will also focus on the recent political uprising in the Arab world and its relations with the Iranian revolution if there is any.