Iran's answer to American military superiority was never symmetrical. Unable to match the US in aircraft or fleets, Tehran spent four decades building the "axis of resistance" — a network of armed movements that projects Iranian power from Lebanon to Yemen while keeping the war away from Iranian soil.
The Network at Its Peak
- Hezbollah (Lebanon): the crown jewel — created with Iranian help after Israel's 1982 invasion, growing into the world's most heavily armed non-state actor with over 100,000 rockets pointed at Israel
- Iraqi Shia militias: Badr, Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq — Iran's lever inside Iraq, and the force behind years of attacks on US bases
- The Houthis (Yemen): an increasingly capable partner whose missiles and drones reached Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Israel and Red Sea shipping
- Syria: the Assad government, kept in power through Iranian and Hezbollah intervention after 2011 — the land bridge of the axis
- Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Gaza): Sunni partners armed and funded despite the sectarian divide
Why Proxies? The Strategic Logic
Proxies gave Iran deniability (attacks without return address), deterrence (any attacker of Iran faces rockets from Lebanon and militias in Iraq), and cheap leverage (a militia costs less than an air force). The doctrine's author was Qasem Soleimani, whose killing in 2020 was itself an attempt to decapitate the network.
October 2023 and the Cascade
The Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 activated the entire axis: Hezbollah opened fire across the Lebanon border; the Houthis began attacking Red Sea shipping — cutting Suez transits and forcing global rerouting around Africa (shipping impact analysed here); Iraqi militias struck US bases, killing three American soldiers in Jordan in January 2024, drawing heavy US retaliation.
The Axis Broken?
Then the structure cracked. Through 2024, Israel devastated Hezbollah — pager attacks, the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, destruction of much of its arsenal. In December 2024, the Assad government fell, severing the land bridge. Hamas was ground down in Gaza. By June 2025, when Israel and the US struck Iran directly, the feared axis-wide response largely failed to materialise — a key reason the twelve-day war stayed contained.
What Remains
The Houthis retain capability and independence; Iraqi militias remain armed; Hezbollah, weakened, still exists. The proxy strategy bought Iran forty years of leverage — but 2024–25 showed its limit: when the network was needed most, deterrence failed. Whether Iran rebuilds it, or pivots to the ultimate deterrent instead, is central to the predictions.
This article is part of a 20-part analysis series on the Iran–USA conflict covering the complete history, the June 2025 war, the Strait of Hormuz, oil markets, global inflation and future scenarios. Facts reflect the situation as of early 2026.
