The expansion of capitalism in the 18th and 19th centuries evoked multiple active colonial attempts to incorporate Khuzestan, a region in the southwest of Iran bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. The response of Arab communities in Khuzestan to this regional and global colonial encroachment has been overlooked in studies of the colonialism in the Middle East. This paper aims to address this theoretical gap and to explore the modalities of resistance among Arab communities in Khuzestan in the 18th and 19th centuries. Through investigating historical and archival records, I will argue that the main response of Arab communities to colonial encroachment was refusal expressed in various modes including armed resistance, “flirting and repelling politics,” and resisting the invasive infrastructures. In the 18th and 19th centuries, armed resistance was a major mode of refusal that Arab communities deployed to stop the colonial encroachments. Armed resistance against Turks and Europeans can be traced back well into the 17th century. In the 18th century, in response to the ongoing refusal of the Arab people, the British entered a coalition with the Turks to attack the region. Between 1758-1766, for example, there were four Anglo-Turkish wars against Arab communities in Khuzestan. Similar militant confrontations were sparked between Arab communities and Persian dynasties that were encroaching southward. In addition to their armed resistance, Arab communities skillfully adopted what I call flirting and repelling politics to hamper colonial encroachment. By flirting and repelling politics, I mean the politics of playing the three colonial powers--Persian, Turkish, and European--against each other in order to retain and protect indigenous autonomy. Flirting and repelling politics, for example, are evident in the tribute payment that Arab communities were promising both Turks and Persians while avoiding payment to either unless there was real pressure. The flirting and repelling politic also involved creating alliances and coalitions between local Arab communities in Khuzestan and southern Iraq. The third mode of resistance that I will explore in this paper is what I call resisting invasive infrastructures. Seeing the infrastructure as a vehicle of colonial encroachment that would compromise their autonomy, I will argue, Arab communities tried to impede the colonial encroachment through obstructing the development of the invasive infrastructures.