ABSTRACT
Iran’s networks of influence have become its way of war. It rests on a developed doctrine, and a sophisticated capability within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, for conducting remote warfare through third parties in foreign jurisdictions. The network has weaknesses and risks. It is extended; partners cannot always be controlled; and Arab communities are resistant to Iranian hegemony. Iran will continue to see its network capability as the most efficient and effective way of confronting and harming its principal regional adversaries, Israel and Saudi Arabia, and of signalling intent to the US. From the war which followed the Iranian Revolution and its experience in foreign theatres in which it has since intervened, the regime has developed a way of war which blends both ideology and pragmatism, self-reliance and the use of third parties, conservatism and innovation. Revolutionary Iran failed to form any meaningful relationships with states.
