http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3045122.stm
quote from above 2004 BBC article:
"US arms and Saudi funds allowed General Zia to mount a proxy war in Afghanistan with mujahideen, or holy warriors.
Drawn from Pakistani as well as Afghan and Arab youths mostly educated at religious schools, the mujahideen and their patrons were to become influential actors in Pakistan.
Because Sunnis form a large majority in Pakistan, most of the mujahideen were Sunni too.
Radical Sunni Islamists were able to establish armed groups like the Sipah-e-Sahaba." end quote.
Because the biggest nations do not see Iran other than a potential terrorist nuclearized nation, it's biggest real threat may not be Israel but Pakistan. Pakistan, even though it has both Shia Muslims(like Iran) and Sunnis Muslims(like Saudi Arabia), is not only the only other Nuclearized Muslim state it is potentially its biggest rival because the Sunni Majority controls the nuclear weapons in Pakistan. Also, Bin Laden's group is also Sunni.
A good example of this would be the Catholic versus Protestant wars in Europe in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Shias and Sunnis have been killing each other since Mohammed (similar to Catholics and Protestants in history). And Bin Laden considers Shias as people that need to be exterminated by jihad and that they need to be wiped from the planet. So because of all this in order to consolidate power within the Muslim world Iran would first have to take on Pakistan while Saudi Arabia and many other rich Muslim countries bought Nuclear weapons to defend themselves from Iran. At this point most Shias are in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan so expect these to be flashpoints once Iran has nuclear missiles ready to go.
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