Today, Iran, which is under a U.S. protectorate, has come to dominate four Arab countries - Iraq, Syria, Yemen and a major part of Lebanon. After Houthi rebels seized power in Sana'a, Yemen, Ali Reza Zakani, a member of the Iranian parliament, said: "Three Arab capitals have today ended up in the hands of Iran and belong to the Islamic Iranian revolution," adding that Sana'a has become the fourth Arab capital that is on its way to joining the Iranian revolution. Furthermore, during a recent conference on Iranian identity, Ali Younesi, a senior advisor to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, said in a more uninhibited manner that Baghdad is the capital of their growing empire.
Younesi's following remarks, which send out "goodness" to the region, are significant in seeing that this imperialistic ambition and the expansionist desire to export this revolution are not limited to four countries alone: "We will defend all the peoples of the region [the Middle East], because we consider them as a part of Iran. We will fight Islamic extremism, Takfiris [apostates], atheists, neo-Ottomans, Wahhabists, the West and Zionism."