If you don’t believe Pat Lang’s denunciation of the idea of some sort of Shi’ite cabal in the Middle East as absurd, maybe you’ll believe Juan Cole. He is, after all, the most prominent U. S. authority on Shi’ism. It would be pretty difficult to get more different in the American political spectrum than Col. Lang and Dr. Cole.
While I do think one should be skeptical of the Yemeni President’s description of rebels as “Iranian puppets,” I don’t have reason to believe Iranians, specifically Qods forces aren’t involved. They have been involved from Afghanistan to Lebanon to Palestine to Kurdistan to Saudi Arabia to Bahrain. They bring truth and vision and military support to those victimized by the world order.
One of the long-standing organizing principles of the Shi’i is an identity based upon opposition to Sunni control. They don’t have to agree on whether there were 12 righteous Imams or 4. The proper continuity of religious authority was disrupted at some point by the treachery of those who hold us down today.
The Zaydi of Northern Iran moved fairly seamlessly into 12’er Shi’ism one-thousand years ago.(*) The notion that there are important religious distinctions that would preclude different branches from cooperating is way oversold in both links. I would not use the word “puppet” though. I think Cole’s example of how Presbyterians and Baptists are unlikely to work together shows a deal of historical ignorance about the religious wars that arose from the Reformation.
(*) Momen, An Introduction to Shi’i Islam (Cole identified in acknowledgements)