How Iran controls a network of armed groups to pursue its regional strategy

• But when it did, it hit at least 85 targets across Iraq and Syria.
• The Pentagon was careful not to directly attack Iran itself, but it targeted Iranian-backed groups which have been conducting raids on US military assets in the region since before Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7.
• But who are these groups that Iran can rely on to act in its interests and how much of a threat do they pose to regional security?

• It wants to remove the US from the Middle East and to replace it as the guarantor of regional security.
• And it refuses to recognise the state of Israel, instead working with Palestinian groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah to pressure the Jewish state.

Quds Force

• The Quds Force is part of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is the IRGC’s primary vehicle for foreign affairs.
• According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Quds is largely responsible for providing training, weapons, money and military advice to a range of groups in the so-called “Axis of Resistance”.

Syria

• Quds activities in Syria are reportedly overseen by Khalil Zahedi, nicknamed Abu Mahdi al-Zahdi.
• Iran’s principal aims in Syria are to keep the Assad regime in power, maximise Iranian influence, protect Shia minorities and reduce and – if possible – eliminate the US presence in Syria.

Iraq

• In Iraq, since the US invasion, Iran-backed armed groups come under an umbrella organisation called the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) or Quwwāt al-Ḥashd ash-Shaʿbī.
• The PMF claims to have as many as 230,000 fighters, mainly Shia.
• The same year PMF’s political wing contested elections in Iraq, coming second in the poll.

Lebanon

• Hezbollah (Party of God) was formed in 1982 to fight against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
• While heavily involved both politically and economically in Lebanon, Hezbollah is also active throughout the region, doing Iran’s business rather than looking after Lebanese interests.

Major headache for the west

• Many of these groups now wield significant political influence in the countries in which they are embedded, so confronting them is not simply a military exercise.
• And, as the dramatic rise in tensions in the region following the assault by Hamas on Israel (also planned with Iranian help) suggests, Iran is capable of fomenting trouble for the west almost at will across the region.

Christoph Bluth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.