Iran Expects Bigger Regional Role from Regime Changes (Region‪)‬

Iran is happy with popular revolts in Arab countries that have brought down two regimes and threaten many others, believing that an economic alliance, bringing it together with Turkey, Syria and Egypt, is feasible and likely to lead the whole Middle East, the Beirut-based pro-Syrian daily AL AKHBAR said March 12. "Iran, satisfied and optimistic with Arab revolts, is working on the creation of a four-party economic alliance, bringing it together with Turkey, Syria and Egypt, to lead the region that it believes is capable of leading the world," said the newspaper, which is widely believed to receive financial support from Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hizbullah militia. "Tehran wants its ties with Ankara to be an example for bilateral relations among regional countries and wants Lebanon to be an example for a resistant country," it said in a Tehran-datelined report. Resistance is used to describe anti-Israeli militant groups, such as Hizbullah and Palestinian Hamas. Turkey and Iran aim to triple their bilateral trade to $30 billion in five years, Iran's foreign minister was reported as saying in February, despite US attempts to constrict ties between Tehran and its closest neighbors.