I believe that most of the Terrorism before 1990 was sponsored and directed by Soviet Union. All European red communist factions and most of the pro Palestinian groups.

 

I might be wrong, but I think that there were two key events that boosted salafist style terrorism. The first is Soviet defeat in Afghanistan. That gave them confidence. The second is Srebrenica massacre. It provided them with recruits, common people who were not seriously considering getting involved before.

 

DG

 

 

How do you figure Iran would capture anything from Saudi Arabia other than an ass kicking? Saudi pilots in F-15's would destroy everything the Iranians threw at them. If SA forces did find trouble on handling the Iranians, the US would step in at key junctures. Lets not forget Iran fought an inept Iraqi force to a standstill. If either had brains, i.e. coordinated attacks, the other would have been conquered. What's changed for Iran in the last 20yrs other than manpower levels?

 

Maybe an Iranian guerilla war within SA would work, but the Saudi's are pretty good dealing with internal strife, so no, the Iranians don't mess with SA. Marching an army into Iraq makes more sense for Iran. Grab and hold and hope another coalition doesn't form to kick them out. That's if Iran had direct conquest ambitions at all.