One war, many fronts: Iran and its proxies

The war with Iran is far from over, and the fight extends well beyond the Strait of Hormuz. Bill Roggio is joined by FDD Senior Fellow and former British Ambassador to Yemen Edmund Fitton-Brown to assess the status of the US-Iran conflict, Tehran’s efforts to break the American naval blockade, and the growing role of its terrorist proxies. They discuss why the fighting in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere should be understood as interconnected theaters of a wider war rather than separate conflicts, and how Iran is exploiting its network of allies to pressure the United States and its regional partners. Bill and Edmund also examine the Houthis’ renewed offensive in Yemen, including their advance along the Red Sea coast toward the Bab al Mandeb Strait, the siege of Taiz, and the fight for the strategic city of Marib. Although Saudi-backed forces have slowed the Houthi advance, the Iranian-backed group continues to strike Saudi airports, oil infrastructure, and other economic targets. With the Houthis emerging as arguably Iran’s most consequential proxy, Bill and Edmund assess the threat to Saudi Arabia’s economic ambitions, the stability of the Saudi monarchy, and the consequences of treating the Houthi campaign as a separate war rather than part of Iran’s broader regional strategy.