Why Iran Is at Center of Middle East Conflict

Hamas and Israel have been at war for three months. The Houthis are firing rockets at ships in the Red Sea. Lebanon is firing rockets into Israel. And internal violence is growing in Iran between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

As tension builds in the Middle East, the most common thread in the conflict is Iran, according to Victoria Coates, former deputy national security advisor to President Donald Trump.

There are three Iranian-sponsored terrorist groups beginning with “H” in the region, Coates explains—to include Hamas, the Houthis, and Hezbollah. 

Consider the attack on Israel alone. 

“Hamas doesn't have the capability to do this on their own. They needed the help from Hezbollah. They needed the help ultimately from Iran in terms of equipment and intelligence and so on,” says Coates, who currently serves as vice president of the Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news outlet.) 

The Biden administration has failed to take strategic action against Iran, Coates says. Meanwhile, “there have been closer to 150 attacks on the part of these various Iranian proxy groups on U.S. installations and people” since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

Coates joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain why the Biden administration has not taken consistent strategic action against Iran and to address the threat of all-out war in the Middle East.

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