>That may be an excellent question, or it may be a silly one. I don't know, myself, but I have noted that there seems no great love between Persians and Arabs (Sunni and Shia?). Is Iran really arming militant groups, or is that what we're told? I'm afraid I've lost trust in our (western) leaders' word and the media they manipulate so well.

I agree with you completely. While there may be evidence of such, it could be anywhere from 1% (maybe one businessman in Iran is financing a minute portion of a militant group out of his own pocket) to 100% (full-scale state support) and we would never know.