Joe Varner
Iran’s ring of fire strategy is in tatters thanks to Hamas’ war, and Iran’s nuclear program is likely about to meet its Waterloo, and with it potentially, Iran’s theocratic dictatorship.
Long-standing Iranian grand strategy in the Middle East has been to use a network of proxy militias to do its bidding and to keep its hands clean hoping to avoid retaliation. The Iranian doctrine involved using its proxy militias to destroy Israel in a ‘ring of fire’ and push the U.S. out of the Middle East before it would settle accounts with its Sunni opponents. To that end, Iran armed, trained, and supported Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Syrian regime, the Houthis in Yemen, and Shia militias in Iraq all with the goal of finishing off Israel. Iran used its network of regional militias to become a regional military threat in the Middle East perhaps until it could become a nuclear power to dominate the area and threaten Europe.
October 7th, 2023 was a disaster for Israel with 1200 people killed and more than 251 Israelis taken as hostage to Gaza, but in real terms Hamas surprise assault on Israel and the war that followed has become a strategic disaster for Iran and everyone associated with it. The October 7th terrorist outrage was celebrated in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen Iraq, and most particularly Iran. But the celebration of murder, rape, torture, and animalistic fury was short-lived.
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