Through the alliances the Safavids concluded with the European colonial states, the latters found, for the first time, a foothold in the Arab region, where the path was facilitated for them to later occupy Muslim states. It is the story of the Safavids and their extremist dreams that were formed in a very complex, highly adversarial and mystical mind that does not hesitate to ally even with the fiercest enemies of the Arabs and Muslims in order to realize his dream of eliminating those he envisioned as opponents and establishing Persian empire on their ruins.

However, the failure of the Safavid state in destroying the Arabs of the peninsula prompts many to ask an important question: Why would not Iranians consider the Safavid state that ruled Iran from 1501 AD to 1763 AD, the heir to their Persian empire, which they have always dreamed of returning?

Perhaps the answer is within the souls of the Iranian Persians, who believe that the Safavids, although they succeeded in establishing a Persian state on Iran’s geographical borders, were unable to destroy the Arab victory that was achieved in the Battle of Qadisiyah and did not avenge for their Persian ancestors as they wished.

Just as any political project based on a religious project, the Safavids used “Persian Shiism” and imposed it by force on Iranian people to be a support for their political project by establishing a purely Persian state, and to achieve two main goals for them.

First Goal: Separating the Iranians from their Sunni Arab surroundings, so they would become isolated within their geographical Iranian borders without any ideological extension. This made it easier to control them, their minds and feelings.

Second Goal: Approximating the Persian project with the Shiite sect, producing a new form of mythical religiosity, which can be loaded with Persian beliefs and concepts, or, in other words, a religion that resembles the Persians and their ancient worship more than Islam, which they see as an Arab religion.

It is a separation from everything that is Arab, and a distance from any link between Arab and Persian nations, neither religion nor neighborhood or sect. This is how the Sh’uubi Safavids and Persian before them had decided and succeeded in greatly.

That was at the level of religion, giving Iranian people with another faith that contradicts the prevailing in the region, yet its disastrous results later occurred, turning it into a prelude and ground for subsequent political movements and alliances.

Safavids found that war by proxy was the best solution to conquer and destroy Arab people, so they allied with the “Portuguese Crusaders”, which made it easier for the Portuguese to reach the warm waters in the Arabian Gulf and enabled them to approach the holy lands in Makkah and Madinah across the Red Sea.

The Safavids concluded very dangerous treaties with the Portuguese. Portuguese documents dating back to 1510 reveal a very dangerous conspiracy between them and the Safavids, noting that these correspondences and treaties were concluded only nine years after the founding of the Safavid state.

This explains that the Safavids were in a hurry to empower the Crusaders to control the Arab world.

Back to those three documents, they mention the following:

First: Safavid Shah offered the Portuguese the occupation of Mamluk Sultan in Egypt, whose authority extends to the holy cities “Makkah Al-Mukarramah and Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah”, so that the Portuguese would penetrate the Red Sea and reach Suez, which is an important Egyptian port, with a plan to seize the port of Jeddah, destroy Makkah Al-Mukarramah and then invade the entire Arabian Peninsula.

Second: Rift between the Sunni Mamluk sultanate and the Sunni Ottomans, in favor of the Portuguese, Austrian, Spanish and Italian crusaders, which is what actually happened and resulted in a major military confrontation in the Levant, bringing down the Mamluks and their kingdom.

Third: Agreement between the Safavids and the Portuguese to share the islands of the Arabian Gulf in return for allowing the Safavid Shah to seize the eastern and western coasts of the Arabian Gulf. In exchange for that, the Portuguese would provide aid, money, weapons and warships to the Shah, in addition to establishing military bases and forts for their soldiers, as a starting point for military movements and supplies.

This sinister collusion and alliance that paved the way for a Portuguese occupation, followed by a British and French occupation, which extended over the next four centuries and impacted many Arab and Islamic countries in the region extending from India in the east to Al-Maghreb Al-Arabi.

That would not have happened, and we were not to pay its price today in Palestine, had it not been for the betrayal committed by the Safavid sultans against everything that is Arab and Islamic. That hatred which they treasure in their souls, drives their policies and moves their minds.