How Tehran's proxy network could outlast the regime

The terrorist groups allied with Iran have developed their own procurement and funding operations.

- MICHAEL JACOBSON AND MATTHEW LEVITT

SECURITY FORCES watch over the crowd at a funeral procession on Wednesday in Tehran.

(MAJID SAREEDI Getty Images)

A MONTH INTO THE Iran war, the United States has offered a 15-point plan to end the hostilities, which includes a broad range of demands on Iran's nuclear and missile programs, and guarantees on freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. is also insisting on Iranian commitments to stop funding and supporting its network of proxies, including Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthi militants in Yemen, recognizing that these terrorist groups have been one of the major driving forces behind the chaos that currently exists in the region.

While the U.S. is right to press Tehran hard on the proxy front, they should minimize expectations that this decades-long problem will be solved in the near term.

First, don't count on Iran agreeing to the U.S. conditions. During his 37-year reign, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made it one of his highest priorities to build and strengthen Iran-backed militias and terrorist groups that could extend the regime's influence and project its power across the Middle East. That legacy is likely to outlive Khamenei. Furthermore, while these proxies still rely on Iranian support, particularly Hezbollah, they have also all developed their own global, independent terrorist, procurement, financial and logistical networks. The threat these groups pose to both the region and beyond is unlikely to disappear regardless of how the Iran war ends — and the U.S. and its partners should be prepared.