Publication

This article provides an analysis of a wave of uprisings from Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority in the country's eastern province. The Arab Spring provided the Shiites a tailwind, and in the Saudi government's view, the Shiite protest is linked to Iranian activity to foment unrest among the Shiite minority. In reality, the Shiites, numbering about 2 million (roughly 10 percent of the population) were never close threatening the kingdom's stability nor ideologically connected to Iran. Continued unrest however may worsen the situation and lead Iran to attempt to exploit it for its own ends.