How Tehran has created a "Shia Crescent" from Iran to the borders of Israel

Tehran may move from the shadows into overt aggression against its regional foe, threatening a wider conflict.

For 40 years, ever since the Ronald Reagan administration, the Iranian regime has been dubbed by the West a state sponsor of terrorism.

Iran itself has also been for as many years seen as a threat. But the war between Israel and Hamas has highlighted a growing and worrying development – that Iran’s Shia military and terrorism machine has now found common cause with Sunni groups. 

There are signs Iran is moving from providing covert backing in local proxy wars to a situation where it is overt about its support for allies and its long-term hostility to Israel and America.

The October 7 Hamas attacks on civilians in southern Israel shocked the world – that they could both achieve it militarily and do it with such ferocity and barbarism.

An Israeli soldier carries a comrade as they train while keeping a position in the upper Galilee region of northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, amid increasing cross-border tensions between Hezbollah and Israel

Hamas and its partners Palestinian Islamic Jihad are both Sunni groups, but who have had huge financial and military aid from their Shia Iranian backers. Likewise Hezbollah, Iran’s Shia Lebanese proxy in southern Lebanon, has received substanial support from Tehran, enabling the terror group to constantly threaten Israel’s northern border.

To put the difference in threat level from southern Lebanon and Gaza into perspective, the US State Department estimates that every year Iran donates almost £600million to Hezbollah whilst giving around £85million yearly to Hamas and PIJ.

Both Hamas and PIJ have had a presence in southern Lebanon for some time and its fighters have played an active role in cross-border missile exchanges with Israel.