Unified Sunni Coalition Confronts Iran

Turkey’s Erdogan: ‘Iran is trying to dominate the region’

JERUSALEM — Iran, whose pursuit in recent years of imperial ambitions in the Middle East has seemed inexorable, found itself over the weekend confronting a hostile coalition of nine Sunni states ranging from Morocco to Turkey, with nuclear-armed Pakistan a possible add-on.

The bombing in Yemen of Iranian-linked Houthi rebels that began last Thursday by the Saudi-led coalition marked the unexpected emergence of a unified Sunni front to counter the threat of regional dominance by Shiite Iran. Egypt, one of the central members of the coalition, has already dispatched naval forces to the waters off Yemen to prevent Houthi militants, acting on behalf of Iran, from threatening shipping to and from the Suez Canal.

The new Sunni militancy follows the accession two months ago of King Salman in Saudi Arabia. His son, Mohammad bin Salman, whom he appointed as defense minister, has taken the leading role in organizing the coalition and planning the strikes against the Houthis, assisted by U.S. intelligence.

Pakistan was named as a member of the coalition by Saudi officials. However, a spokesman for the Pakistani government subsequently said it had not yet made up its mind whether to join. Turkey, which like Pakistan is a Sunni Muslim state but non-Arab, took a clear stand alongside the Arab Sunnis. “Iran is trying to dominate the region,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey told a press conference. “This is intolerable and Iran has to see this.”

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