After Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in Iran in 1979, Tehran made clear its intention to spread its Islamic Revolution throughout the Middle Easthttp://www.alislam.org/library/books/mna/chapter_9.html ...bring about similar revolutions in the neighboring Muslim states... Ahmadiyya Muslim Community http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/26414.htm. Arab states on the Persian Gulf with their large Shia populations were seen as primary targets and the Iranian government immediately set about supporting Persian Gulf Islamist organisations with money, arms, logistics and training in urban warfare.