Iran’s goal is to drag Israel into a larger conflict

The US’s role in the Middle East is declining, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Maj.-Gen. Hossein Salami said in a speech over the weekend. This statement is not new to the Iranian regime, but reiterating it adds new details linking how Tehran views the US role and Israel’s war against Hamas.

Salami was speaking at a funeral of “unknown martyrs,” usually a reference to those victims of the Iran-Iraq war whose bodies could not be identified. After a speech honoring the fallen, he turned his attention to Israel and the US.

“We will support Palestine until the end,” he said, adding that “Americans are packing their bags and leaving the region.”

Salami made a series of comments suggesting that equipment and money were not enough to win wars in the Middle East, reflecting the regime’s policy of investing more in groups and people, such as Hezbollah and the Houthis, than investing in things. He then compared the current trend in the region to the last two decades of US policy.

“Did the occupation of Afghanistan bring them victory?” he asked. “We tell them: ‘Why did you leave equipment as strong as an army when you fled Afghanistan? Were you able to stay in the Iraq that you occupied? Did you win in Syria, or did you just spend money? Were you able to create victory with these dollars in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, etc., or did you have to leave the field defeated, depressed, helpless, and unsuccessful?’”

Compared US policy in those countries with Israel-Hamas war

Salami then compared the US policy in those countries with Israel’s war against Hamas.

“The more they equip, the more nails they put in their coffin,” he said, accusing Israel of fighting against civilians and harming hospitals.

The reality is that it is Iran-backed Hamas that purposely sought to exploit civilians and use hospitals as shields. Salami likely knows this.

He then claimed that Washington was behind Israel’s war in Gaza, adding that the war was further tarnishing America’s image in the region.

This is the dual narrative of Iran: On the one hand, it uses Hamas to attack Israel and destroy Gaza. On the other hand, it claims this destruction harms the US and Israel. Tehran seeks to play both sides in this respect.

Overall, Salami’s speech continued to reveal the Islamic Republic’s policy. Iran is using the war in Gaza to boost its influence in the region. The US and Israel are the main losers of this regional conflict, he said.

Countries in the region, Muslim nations,” now have hatred for the US and Israel, Salami said.

“Today, the American authorities do not dare to be present in any of the Islamic countries,” he said. “Gone are the days when the red carpet was rolled out for you, and children were brought in from schools to wave at you. [But] wherever you appear today, hatred and insecurity are the main characteristics of the reaction of the nations.”

In this analysis, Salami openly explains Iran’s goal: to drag Israel into a larger conflict, which Iran itself inflames via attacks by Hezbollah, the Houthis, and militias in Iraq and Syria. Tehran then uses these attacks to argue that the region opposes the US and Israel.

Nevertheless, it is Iran that is really behind all these attacks and instability.

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.