Syria and the instability of proxies

Recorded 3-15-2026

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On this edition of Parallax Views, returning guest Wahid Azal—an independent scholar of Islamic esotericism, Sufi mystic, and founder of the Fatimiya Sufi Order—joins us to unpack the rapidly escalating Iran War and its potentially seismic consequences for the global economy and geopolitical order.

Azal, a multilingual scholar educated in the United States and Australia who specializes in Islamic mystical and occult traditions, offers a deeply heterodox perspective shaped by both spiritual insight and geopolitical analysis. At the center of our conversation is his stark warning: “Iran has got a loaded gun to the head of the global economy, standing in the Strait of Hormuz.” We explore what this means in practical terms, as Iran has effectively rendered the Strait of Hormuz—through which a significant portion of the world’s oil supply flows—functionally constrained, even absent a formal closure. With oil prices already spiking in the wake of the conflict, the implications for global markets, energy security, and everyday life are profound.

From there, we delve into why Azal believes Iran holds a strategic upper hand in the conflict. He argues that the decentralized and networked nature of the Iranian state—particularly its military and security apparatus—makes any attempt at “decapitation futile, complicating conventional U.S. and Israeli war doctrines. As such the Ayatollah's assassination have not been able to topple the Islamic Republic and the IRGC remains in tact. We also examine how economic chokepoints give Iran tools that extend far beyond traditional battlefield metrics and any attempt to repeat the 1953 coup.

The conversation also takes a critical turn toward diaspora politics. Azal challenges what he sees as the largely uncritical support for war among segments of the Persian diaspora, arguing that these voices often fail to represent the realities and sentiments of Iranians داخل ایران (inside Iran). Relatedly, we discuss what he calls the “mirage of monarchical salvation” surrounding Reza Pahlavi, and why he views such narratives as detached from the political complexities on the ground.

Importantly, Azal outlines a position that resists easy categorization: while he expresses support for Iran’s women’s rights and democratic movements, he simultaneously defends the Islamic Republic against what he sees as an aggressive war waged by the United States and Israel. This tension—between internal critique and external opposition—forms a key throughline of the discussion.

All this and much more in a wide-ranging, provocative conversation that challenges conventional narratives about Iran, war, and the global system.