A Bahraini Crackdown Invites Iranian Meddling

When the Arab Spring gave rise to a Shiite uprising in Bahrain, Iran's Shiite government saw an opportunity to upset the sectarian balance of power in Eastern Arabia. Its ambitions were swiftly thwarted, however, by a Saudi-led military intervention designed to keep the island kingdom under Sunni control at any cost. Riyadh's backing has emboldened the Bahraini government in the years since, recently culminating in a series of harsh crackdowns against the country's Shiite opposition. But with social pressure already mounting, Manama's actions could backfire and give Tehran another chance to stoke Shiite unrest in the Persian Gulf....