Al Qaida in a race against Iran?

There is an apparent rift among al Qaida over Hezbollah.

31 July (AKI) - Al-Qaeda representatives in Saudi Arabia are refusing to toe the line with the group's leadership in supporting the Lebanese Shiite group, Hezbollah... "Support for Hezbollah, and its eventual victory would cause enormous problems for our relationship with the people," according to the latest [online] issue of "The Voice of Jihad".
Such views appear sharply at odds with those expressed by al-Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who in an appeal televised by ... al-Jazeera last week, called on Sunni Muslims to help their Shiite brother from Hezbollah fight the Israelis.

Al Qaida is Sunni and hostile to Shiites, as evidenced by Zawahiri's backing of Zarqawi. Hezbollah is Shiite, so Zawahiri's support for them requires some explanation.

Zawahiri may see this as a race against Iran. If Iran gets the bomb, that's a big ace in its hand when it comes to a Sunni-Shia showdown over who gets to control the holy sites. If Israel falls before Iran gets nukes, then the Sunni can maintain a numerical advantage in ensuing sectarian warfare. Thus, support for Hezbollah is tactical and does not contradict al Qaida's overall anti-Shiite strategic stance. If so, al Qaida is under pressure to make things happen before Iran gains military nuclear capability.