Iran is attempting to rearm its militias across the Middle East after U.S. strikes crippled its nuclear program in June, according to CNN.
Tehran has continued to arm the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and its various militias in Iraq and Syria as the Islamic Republic reels from its 12-day-war with Israel and the U.S., which left its nuclear infrastructure and military crippled, according to CNN. While Iran has sustained serious damage from the war, its proxies remain a key arm of its influence over the region as frequent agitators against Israeli and U.S. forces.
“Iran was never going to stop resupplying their groups,” Michael Knights, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, told CNN. “They might not be able to send this much or regularly – more stuff might get intercepted – but if you’re the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force right now, what you’re trying to show is ‘we still exist, we’re intact, nothing has changed.’”
A vessel carrying 750 tons of missiles and equipment bound for Yemen was intercepted by exiled Yemeni government loyalists Wednesday, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). Iran denied sending the shipment, saying it was a “deceitful attempt” to incriminate the regime.
The Houthis have regularly launched attacks against Israel, with the Israeli Air Force mostly recently hitting Houthi targets Monday in response to the strikes. The rebels also have imperiled international shipping through the Red Sea, which prompted a U.S. bombing campaign in March.
Suspected Iranian-backed groups in Iraq have increased their attacks on Western entities and personnel in the nation, mostly recently hitting five oil fields with drone strikes, Aziz Ahmad, a Kurdish Regional Government official, said on X on Wednesday. Two of the oil fields were owned by U.S. companies, according to CNN.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah has received waning support from Iran after the December 2024 fall of the former Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and Israel’s 2024 killing of the militant group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah is a key ally to Hamas in its post-Oct. 7 war with Israel, regularly engaging with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in skirmishes on the border.
Hamas has also been met with relative silence from their Iranian allies in the wake of Tehran’s brief war with Israel.
Meanwhile, the new government in Syria — formerly a key thoroughfare for Tehran’s weapons transfers to allied terrorist groups — has seized Iranian shipments of arms to Hezbollah over the past year, according to CNN.
Iran agreed Monday to meet in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday with France, Germany and the U.K. to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program. The European nations threatened Iran with renewed sanctions if there was not any movement on talks regarding its nuclear ambitions.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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