Covert with calculated risk: How Iran is shifting its Israel strategy
Tehran appears to be keeping pressure on Israel mainly through its network of proxies, resorting to calculated restraint and deniability to avoid risks of a devastating full-scale war.
TEHRAN — The already volatile situation in the Middle East is at yet another juncture amid unresolved tensions between Iran and Israel. Recent developments suggest a shift in tactics in Iran, where there is an increasing tendency to opt for a mix of covert operations and strategic posturing rather than open confrontations.
During his visit to Tehran this week, the leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, received assurances of the Islamic Republic's "unwavering" support for militants fighting against Israel.
Both Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, told the Palestinian leader that backing "resistance" factions remains a central pillar of Iran's broader regional strategy.
Nakhalah described Iran as "a mountain on which all resistance groups rely," according to a readout published by state media, following the militant leader's meeting with Ali Akbar Ahmadian, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
