The Herat Uprising: The Iranian Islamic Ideological Revolution

Egypt seemed to be a nation ready for the influence of the Revolution to take hold with a firm grasp. It was accepted by many revolutionary thinkers that “Egypt [was] in a very critical condition” and that “Egyptians [had] looked to the West and then to the East and then to Arab nationalism without finding the answer to their problems” both socially and economically. Additionally, Ibrahim Yazidi, the Deputy Prime Minister for Revolutionary Affairs of Iran, predicted, correctly, that Egypt would be a part of “an ongoing Islamic ideological revolution.” As the support and spread of the Revolution’s ideals continued to reach the Muslim populations of Egypt, a remarkable yet familiar development dominated its narrative. Groups such as the Muslim …show more content…
This was a recurrent theme of the storyline of the late and early times after the culmination of the Iranian Revolution. As the Herat Uprising was reported in the media outlets across the world covering the intensely rising situations in the Middle East, Iran took great exception to the claim that it directly attempted to export its Islamic state goals. Despite the aforementioned public offer by Ayatollah Shariat Madari of Iran, to assist the rebels in Herat toward their revolt against the Republic and Soviet influence in Afghanistan, Iran disputed any such claim. While the Afghan government said that Iran sent thousands of soldiers in disguise to make trouble across the border in Afghanistan, Iran denied any such involvement. Saying that it was “false from top to bottom” that Iran sent soldiers to accompany returning Afghan refugees, Iran attempted to uphold its integrity and stay out of publically disrupting the internal affairs of its neighboring countries. However, in contradictory fashion, the refugees themselves argued against this Iranian claim. In Egypt, too, Iran denies any direct ulterior exportation actions that contributed to the increased activity of Islamic groups. While evidence is hard to establish indicting Iran of direct ideological exportation specifically in Egypt, it is obvious that Iran had no qualms about the spread of its thought. “Iran’s Moslem leadership [was] careful to emphasize that it will not ‘export’ its Moslem revolution, but Government spokesmen say that the fervor that has swept Iran is bound to affect neighboring countries and that they will do nothing to discourage it.” As the rest of the Middle Eastern countries watched helplessly as the revolutionary fervor gripped Arab nations,