"Axis of Restraint"... British Magazine: Iran's Support for Its Proxies Is Driven by Its Regional Ambitions, Not the Liberation of the Palestinians

The British magazine International Viewpoint confirmed that Iran's support for its agents in Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere is driven by Tehran's pursuit of regional power, considering that Iran's main geopolitical goal is not to liberate the Palestinians, but to use them as a means of pressure, especially in its relations with the United States.

The magazine said in a lengthy analysis , part of which was translated by “Yemeni Youth Net”, that Iran’s passivity in responding to Israel’s war on Lebanon and its assassination of senior political and military leaders in Hezbollah revealed that its first priority is to protect its geopolitical interests and the survival of its regime. This includes reaching a temporary settlement with the United States itself.

"In fact, the main goal of President Masoud Pezeshkian and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is to conclude some kind of agreement with Washington, to get it to lift the sanctions imposed on its economy, and to normalize relations with the United States," she added.

The magazine pointed out that Iran was trying to achieve a regional balance of power against Israel and the United States, as well as pursue its military and economic goals in the region.

She said that the Iranian regime views any challenge to its influence in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and the Gaza Strip, whether from below by popular forces or from Israel, other regional powers and the United States, as a threat to its interests.

Hostility to people's struggles

The magazine asserts that the policy of the Tehran regime is driven entirely by its own governmental and capitalist interests, not by a liberation project, which explains why Iran and its allies in the axis oppose not only other hostile powers, but also popular struggles for democracy and equality.

The Iranian regime denies its workers the basic rights to organize, bargain collectively and strike, crushes any protests, and arrests and imprisons dissidents, tens of thousands of whom are political prisoners in the country’s jails.

The regime has also repeatedly oppressed Kurds as well as people in Sistan and Baluchestan, sparking resistance, most recently in 2019. It also subjects women to systematic oppression, creating intolerable conditions.

In addition, Tehran opposes popular protests against its allies in the axis. It condemned the mass protests in Lebanon and Iraq in 2019, claiming that the United States and its allies were behind them in spreading “insecurity and unrest.”

In Syria, Iran provided its troops, fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Hezbollah militants as ground forces, while Russia mobilized its air force to support Assad’s brutal counterrevolution against the democratic uprising in 2011.

Iran’s allies in the axis also crushed popular movements. In Lebanon, Hezbollah cooperated with the rest of the country’s ruling parties, despite their differences, in opposing social movements that challenged their sectarian and neoliberal order.

For example, they united against the Lebanese uprising in October 2019. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed that the uprising was funded by foreign powers and sent party members to attack protesters.

In Iraq, Iran-aligned militias and parties, such as the Popular Mobilization Units, have suppressed popular struggles and waged a violent campaign of assassinations and repression of civilian protesters, organizers, and journalists, killing several hundred and wounding several thousand.

Both Hezbollah and Iraqi militias justified their suppression of the protests in 2019 by claiming that they were the pawns of foreign powers. In reality, these were the expressions of aggrieved people struggling for legitimate demands to reform their countries, not the hidden agenda of another state. That’s why activists raised slogans like “No Saudi Arabia, No Iran” and “No US, No Iran.”

The analysis says that the truth is that Iran is not a principled or consistent opponent of American imperialism. For example, Tehran cooperated with American imperialism in its invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Nor is Iran a reliable ally for the liberation of Palestine. For example, when Hamas refused to support the Assad regime and its brutal suppression of the Syrian uprising in 2011, Iran cut off its financial aid to the Palestinian movement.

That changed after Ismail Haniyeh replaced Khaled Meshaal as Hamas leader in 2017, restoring close ties between the Palestinian movement, Hezbollah, and Iran. But divisions between Iran and the Palestinians remain, particularly over the issue of Syria.

Large segments of Palestinians in the occupied territories and elsewhere celebrated the fall of Iran's ally Assad, who was widely seen as a murderous tyrant and an enemy of the Palestinians and their cause.

Moreover, Hamas’s alliance with Iran has been criticized by sectors of Palestinians in Gaza, even those close to Hamas’s core. For example, a group of Palestinians tore down a billboard in Gaza City in December 2020 featuring a giant image of the late General Qassem Soleimani, who was the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, just days before the first anniversary of his death.

But with the fall of Assad, Iran lost its Syrian base for logistical coordination, weapons production, and arms shipments to various parts of the region, especially to Hezbollah. All of this has greatly weakened Tehran, both domestically and regionally.

That is why Iran has an interest in destabilizing Syria after the regime falls by stoking sectarian tensions through its remaining networks in the country. It does not want a stable Syria, especially one with which its regional rivals can forge alliances.

Iran’s only ally that has remained relatively intact is the Houthis in Yemen. Prior to the ceasefire, Israel repeatedly bombed Houthi forces in an attempt to weaken them and the Iranian axis.

In December 2024, Tel Aviv escalated its campaign of strikes on the Houthi-controlled ports of Hodeidah, Salif, and Ras Issa in order to undermine their economic base, derived from port taxes, customs duties, and oil shipments, limit their military capabilities, and prevent Iranian arms shipments.

Israel also wanted to stop Houthi attacks on commercial shipping, which have disrupted shipping in the Bab al-Mandab Strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a passageway through which up to 15 percent of global maritime trade passes.

In response to this threat to global capitalism, the United States, Britain, and Israel launched missile strikes and bombing campaigns against Houthi targets. While Iran promised to retaliate against Israel, it ultimately did little, again wanting to avoid any direct war with Israel and the United States.