June 5, 2026 | The National Interest
Understanding Iran’s 3,000-Mile Battlefront
Iran is fighting a regional war, while the United States can focus only on one front at a time.
June 5, 2026 | The National Interest
Understanding Iran’s 3,000-Mile Battlefront
Iran is fighting a regional war, while the United States can focus only on one front at a time.
Excerpt
On June 3, an Iranian drone slammed into Terminal 1 at Kuwait International Airport. One person was killed, and 60 were injured in the attack. On June 2, the Kurdish Iranian opposition group Komala said that one of its bases in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq was targeted by Iran. On June 1, the head of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, threatened attacks on shipping near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea.
These are examples of how Iranian-backed threats span a Middle East frontline stretching from Lebanon to Iraq and then to the Straits of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb—a frontline of more than 3,000 miles.
Iran continues to sow chaos in the Middle East, even as the United States continues to be engaged in talks with Iran about a deal. The current talks hinge on many issues, including the US demands that Iran abandon its nuclear program and that it end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is demanding that the United States also end its blockade of Iran. Iran will want other concessions as well, such as guarantees that the United States and Israel will not attack the country again.
While the talks about a deal continue, it is clear that Iran’s regional policy remains largely the same as in the past. Over the last several decades, Tehran has backed an array of proxies in the Middle East. This has included Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and various militias in Iraq. Iran has also backed Hamas in Palestine. Tehran’s support of all these groups has caused chaos and conflict in the Middle East over the last few decades. For instance, the Houthis tried to seize the Yemeni capital of Aden in 2015, triggering an international intervention by Saudi Arabia in support of the Yemeni government. The arming of Hezbollah led to clashes with Israel on October 8, 2023, a day after the Hamas attack. This led to a multi-front war that continues to this day.
Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machine, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.