Iran’s regional allies keep close eye on protest aftermath
While Iran’s regional allies have assured their supporters that the recent protests in the country are not a threat, the reality is that groups such as Hezbollah are highly vulnerable to any change in Iranian foreign policy.
When the protests in Iran began Dec. 28, it wasn’t clear to Tehran’s regional allies whether or not to be concerned. Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Syria’s defiant government, whose existence today has a lot to do with the revolutionary establishment’s decision to fight on their side, all had many reasons to think of developments in Tehran as if they were occurring in Beirut, Baghdad, the Gaza Strip and Damascus. To them, if it rains in Iran, opening umbrellas is necessary wherever they are.
To these countries, the Islamic Republic is more than just financial and political support. To them, Iran is the flag bearer of a project — the “Resistance Axis,” which has been in open confrontation with several rivals on different levels. Over the past four decades, this axis was in the building process and it was introduced gradually to the masses as an alternative to all other agendas and paths in the region. As Iran is the backbone of the axis, whenever Iran is subject to any danger, then all of the allies are in danger. This is one main reason to look at the Iranian unrest from a regional perspective.
