The losers in the region are also clear: Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states, which feel existentially threatened, and have come to regard their own Shia minorities as an Iranian fifth column. They have a point: with the Shia in power in Iraq, Iran will seek suitable opportunities to use local Shia populations as proxies to assert its hegemonic claims.
中东地区的输家也非常明确：感觉生存受到威胁、开始将国内什叶派少数族裔视为伊朗第五纵队的沙特阿拉伯和其他海湾国家。他们其实有一定道理：由于什叶派在伊拉克掌权，伊朗会寻找适当时机利用当地什叶派人口代理维护其霸权要求。这是除什叶多数派对当地的不满之外激起巴林国内动乱的理由。