PNN – The Guardian newspaper wrote in a report written by Simon Tisdale: With the reduction of influence of Washington, China and Russia in the Middle East region, Iran has now taken this position as a dominant power.
The first US-led airstrike against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis marked another frightening milestone in a long line of Western policy failures in the Middle East. A failure like the failure to solve the Palestinian conflict, as the most important crisis that has been going on for decades.
The fact that the United States, with British support, has been forced to use force against Yemen’s crippling Houthi attacks on the Red Sea shipping system reflects an unpleasant reality. The truth is that Washington is losing its political leverage, American diplomacy has become ineffective and its authority has been mocked as the Houthis fearlessly promise to continue attacking ships passing through Bab al-Mandab.
This escalation of tension also highlights another unpleasant reality, that the dominant power in the Middle East is no longer America and its allies such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, or even Israel, but the dominant power in the region from now on is Iran and its allies.
The talk of the winners and losers of the horrific massacre in Gaza, which the Houthis claim triggered their attacks, continues. However, strategically, it is quite clear who is behind these proxy attacks. Now this is Iran’s position, with every Palestinian victim, Hezbollah’s missiles, Iraqi and Syrian bombings, and Houthi drones against Israel’s transport fleet are strengthened.
While US President Joe Biden has lost the support of the world’s public opinion (and most Americans) by unconditionally supporting Israel and vetoing UN ceasefire plans; Now it is Iran, as a non-Arab country, sitting behind the steering wheel of the Middle East and directing the current policies of this region. On the other hand, the unprecedented accusations of genocide against Israel have created more problems for this regime.
Iranians pursue four main goals in their foreign policy:
- Ejecting the United States from the region, which is known to them as the evil enemy of the 1979 revolution.
- Maintain your superiority in the region
- Strengthening key alliances with China and Russia
- destruction of Israel; In reality and words.
Iran pursues these strategic goals through its paramilitary networks known as the “Axis of Resistance”. Opinions differ on whether the Houthis have been trained and armed by Tehran and follow Tehran’s orders. Some analysts believe that Iran has no control over the Yemeni Houthi militias, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah also insists that it is operationally autonomous.
All this shows that the bombing of the Houthi bases will not only change the current reality in the region, but may fuel Tehran’s anti-Western and anti-Israeli resistance throughout the region.
Being more vigilant than in the past, last year Iran took pragmatic steps to repair relations with its Arab rivals in the Persian Gulf and restored diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia with the support of China. Now China and Russia are Iran’s best strategic partners, and this has helped Iran become the dominant power in the region more than any other factor.
The war in Ukraine and its consequences created the belief in Beijing and Moscow that the United States is retreating from world leadership after Donald Trump, and that the rules-based international order established by Washington is more important than ever for Subversion and replacement is ready.
In cooperation with Beijing and in order to circumvent the sanctions, Iran sells millions of barrels of crude oil to China at a discount every month, which is transported to China by “dark fleet” oil tankers. In February, Xi told Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi that China supported the country’s fight against US “unilateralism and bullying”.
But Iran’s relationship with Russia is mostly in the area of ​​arms exchange. Iran provides its drones to Ukraine. Russia, on the other hand, provides Iran with advanced Russian Sukhoi 35 fighter-bombers and attack helicopters, which are the product of an “unprecedented defense partnership”. On the other hand, Russian exports to Iran are booming and Moscow has committed to invest 40 billion dollars to develop natural gas fields in Iran.
In addition to all this, Iran’s nuclear program is growing rapidly. A program that Biden hoped to be able to control by reviving the JCPOA, but this was not possible. Now the worst nightmare for Israel is Iran’s nuclear bomb, which may be closer than ever.
“Iran has survived sanctions and internal protests,” wrote analysts Roel Mark Grecht and Ray Takyeh. With the help of its powerful allies, this country has stabilized its economy and begun to renew its defenses, and the nuclear bomb seems to be more accessible than ever.