Mixed marriages and messages in a divided region

In the middle of last year, with Iraq racked by a fresh outbreak of Sunni-Shia bloodshed, a family picture countering the sectarian narrative went viral on Twitter. It shows a mother holding up a sign that reads "I am Sunni" while the father's says "I am Shia". Between them is seated a little girl with the sign "I am Sushi".

The origin of the photograph was unclear. Some people on social media traced it back to Beirut, and thought the family was Lebanese not Iraqi. Others wondered if it was altered.

But it didn't matter. Genuine or not, the image highlighted a tradition of mixed marriages in the Middle East's multi-confessional nations, a little harmony amid the Sunni-Shia discord. It struck a chord because, at least among some segments of society, hatred of sectarianism is greater than sectarian hatred.

I was reminded of the photograph while reading through regional media, where there has been a disturbing spike in sectarian rhetoric. It is going to take much more than a heartwarming photo, albeit retweeted many times, to damp this fire. In fact, if the religious loathing goes on for much longer, the Sushis may become extinct.

Among some commentators in the Gulf, it is no longer enough to deride Iran as a menacing Islamic Republic bent on destabilising the Middle East and asserting its power in Sunni Arab states. Now some writers refer to Iran as the "Safavids", after the 16th century dynasty that unified Persia by establishing it as a Shia power and fought repeated wars with the Ottoman sultans. The Safavids, who converted Persia's Sunni, extended their rule to modern-day Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Mosul, though eventually lost them back to the Ottomans. References to them are designed to revile Iran as an imperial power and frame its rivalry with Arabs along religious lines.

Maybe that is to be expected at a time of increasing tension between Shia Iran and the Sunni states of the Gulf. Iran's preliminary agreement to curb its nuclear ambitions, agreed last week, went down rather badly in the Arab world. Despite the polite reaction - Saudi Arabia, the main regional Sunni state, said it looked forward to a binding agreement that would strengthen regional stability - the mood in the Gulf ranges from apprehension to rage.

An Iran friendlier with the west, goes the suspicion, is an Iran that feels more confident about challenging its neighbours and extending its influence. Indeed, the reaction to the nuclear deal was delivered with a bang a week before the announcement in Lausanne. The usually cautious Saudi Arabia assembled a coalition of like-minded Sunni states and launched an air campaign against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen.

The Saudis have become so exercised about Iran's growing influence, particularly in Iraq and Syria, that they have called time on a lengthy dispute with neighbouring Qatar; and tried to improve fraught relations between Egypt (which is Arab and Sunni) and Turkey (which is not Arab but is Sunni).

Another leg to the emerging anti-Iran strategy is the Saudi-backed plan for a joint Arab force, which I doubt will ever materialise but talk of which is at least concentrating minds about the need for co-operation.

Iranians often complain that their Sunni neighbours are more sectarian than they are, pointing out that Tehran has backed radical Sunni groups as well as Shia proxies. But some Iranian commentators veer into dangerously divisive rhetoric, branding Saudi Arabia a takfiri state that rejects other Muslims as infidels.

Meanwhile, statements emerging from Tehran can fuel Arab paranoia and the narrative of imperialistic ambition. Ali Younesi, an Iranian presidential adviser, was quoted as saying at a recent conference that Iran had become an empire like it had been throughout its history, and that its capital was now Baghdad. All of the Middle East, he added, was Iran; and Tehran would protect all nationalities and stand against "extremism, takfirism, atheism, neo-Ottomans, the Wahhabis, the west and Zionism".

Such an absurd statements should have been ridiculed - and Mr Younesi has since denied and clarified them). But in Arab media, they were taken as proof of Iran's devious intentions and used to stoke more poisonous rhetoric.

[email protected]

© The Financial Times Limited 2015. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation