In every failed state, every destabilized country, and every major conflict across the Middle East, one pattern emerges with striking consistency: Iranian fingerprints. From the Houthis disrupting global shipping in Yemen to militias attacking American forces in Iraq, from Hezbollah’s arsenal threatening Israel to networks supporting extremists in Afghanistan, Iran has systematically built the region’s most extensive proxy empire.
Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has exported Islamic Jihadi revolutions, building built a network of proxies across the Middle East, with Tehran’s allies among more than a dozen major militias that challenged local and neighboring governments, operating in at least six countries: Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Syria and Yemen.
Though speculation about the threat of Iran’s nuclear program has dominated recent headlines, Iran’s threat through proxy armies is well-documented and has cost countless lives as Iran has become the Middle East’s primary destabilizing force. Operating at arm’s length or through its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Tehran is able to largely hide behind plausible deniability as Iran-backed Shia groups slaughter Sunnis, Christians, Jews, as well as religious and ethnic minorities such as Yazidis, Druze, Alawites and others across the region.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Quds Force (IRGC-QF) is Iran’s elite special operations unit responsible for extraterritorial operations, with “Quds” meaning “Jerusalem” in Arabic, reflecting their stated goal of “liberating” Jerusalem from Israel. The IRGC-QF serves as Iran’s central command for training, funding, arming, and coordinating terrorist groups and militant proxies worldwide, providing weapons, military advisors, financial support, and strategic coordination. It was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States in 2019.
Hezbollah is Iran’s most successful proxy, a militia powerful enough to dominate Lebanese territory. In 2020, the U.S. State Department estimated Iran provided $700 million annually. That investment built a force with thousands of rockets aimed at Israel and deep political control over Lebanon. Hezbollah’s military strength now exceeds that of the Lebanese army, forming a parallel state loyal to Tehran rather than Beirut. Its entrenchment reflects Iran’s broader objective: not merely sponsoring terrorism, but establishing permanent, hard-to-remove power bases across the region.
Iran’s support for Yemen’s Houthis has escalated a regional conflict into a global crisis. Since shortly after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the Houthis, backed by Tehran, have launched drones, missiles, and small attack boats at commercial ships in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade. Maritime traffic through Egypt’s Suez Canal has fallen 42 percent as shipping companies reroute to avoid Houthi-controlled waters.
Tehran has armed the Houthis since at least 2009, steadily increasing the sophistication of smuggled weapons. By 2015, the Quds Force was supplying missile components for local assembly. On March 24, Yemeni authorities intercepted 800 Chinese drone propellers at the Sarfayt border crossing with Oman. In response, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned companies and operatives in Iran and China for facilitating weapons procurement.
This sustained support has transformed the Houthis from a tribal militia into a highly capable fighting force. They now possess the most advanced arsenal within Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” including medium-range and anti-ship ballistic missiles. Between 2015 and 2021, they launched 851 UAVs and 430 rockets or ballistic missiles at Saudi targets. Iran’s provision of weapons, training, and advisors has elevated the Houthis into a regional threat with global economic consequences.
The IRGC-Quds Force has conducted operations far beyond the Middle East. In Argentina, Iranian operatives and Hezbollah carried out the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 and wounding hundreds. Argentine prosecutors formally accused Iran, and specifically IRGC-QF commander, of planning and executing the attack. The Quds Force has also been linked to planned attacks in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya, Cyprus, and Bulgaria, as well as assassination attempts against dissidents in Europe and the United States. It functions as Iran’s export arm for terrorism while preserving plausible deniability for the regime.
As President Trump weighs whether to support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear production capabilities, it must also be considered that Iran remains the primary destabilizing force in the Middle East. Delivering a significant blow to Iran’s economy and degrading the IRGC’s infrastructure could help cut off funding to the many proxy groups fueling conflict across the region.
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