Rather than deploying divisions across borders, Iran cultivates a network of armed partners who operate locally while advancing Iranian strategic objectives. These groups form what is widely known as the “Axis of Resistance,” a loose alignment of state and non-state actors backed by Tehran and opposed to U.S. influence and Israel.
Among the most prominent are Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shiite militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and Palestinian militant organizations, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
For years, Syria served as a critical operating corridor for Iranian forces and weapons moving across the region. The collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government in 2024 severely disrupted that infrastructure and dealt a major blow to Tehran’s regional logistics network, though many of the relationships Iran built there continue to exist in altered form.
The Quds Force functions as the connective tissue linking these actors together. It provides money, weapons, training, intelligence assistance, and strategic direction. In many cases, Quds Force advisers work alongside militia leaders, helping plan operations and shape political outcomes in fragile states.
The result behaves less like a traditional military command and more like a distributed pressure system stretching across multiple countries.
Iraq: Where the Model Took Shape
The Quds Force strategy became especially visible during the Iraq War.
U.S. officials repeatedly accused Iran of supplying Iraqi militia groups with advanced roadside bomb technology known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs. These weapons were designed to punch through armored vehicles and became one of the most lethal threats facing American troops during the height of the insurgency.
Iran never acknowledged direct responsibility.
It did not need to.
The strategy depended on distance and deniability.
Militias pulled the trigger.
Tehran stayed one step removed.
That same model would later shape Iranian strategy across the region.
After Soleimani
Following Soleimani’s death, command of the Quds Force passed to Brigadier General Esmail Qaani.
Unlike his predecessor, Qaani maintained a far lower public profile and lacked many of the personal relationships Soleimani cultivated with militia leaders across the Arab world. Soleimani operated like a traveling battlefield commander, appearing on front lines and building loyalty through direct contact.
Qaani largely remained in the shadows.
But the broader strategy did not change.
The Quds Force continued coordinating Iran’s regional partners through a web of financial facilitators, smuggling routes, intelligence channels, and front companies that allowed Tehran to sustain influence despite years of international sanctions.
In early 2026, however, Iran’s leadership structure was shaken by a devastating series of targeted strikes.
On February 28, 2026, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed during the opening phase of a joint U.S.-Israeli military operation targeting senior Iranian leadership. Several of Iran’s most senior military figures were also reported killed in the strikes, including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Mohammad Pakpour, Iran’s Defense Minister Amir Nasirzadeh, longtime national security figure Ali Shamkhani, and Iranian Armed Forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri.
The strikes represented one of the most severe blows to the Iranian leadership structure since the 1979 revolution.
Amid the chaos, the operational status of Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani has become uncertain, with conflicting reports circulating about his whereabouts and role following the opening phase of the conflict.
A Network Under Pressure
Iran’s regional system remains dangerous, but it is no longer operating from a position of unchallenged strength.
One of Tehran’s most important partners suffered a major shock in September 2024 when Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, removing a central figure in Iran’s regional alliance structure.
Israeli operations have also inflicted sustained damage on Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, while Syria’s political collapse disrupted a major Iranian transit corridor.
In Iraq, some militia groups that once functioned primarily as battlefield proxies have increasingly shifted toward political influence, economic interests, and domestic power.
The network still exists.
But parts of it are under strain.
Why It is Important Now
The Quds Force strategy is no longer unfolding quietly in the background.
It is now playing out in the open.
What began as a dangerous escalation after Israel’s June 13, 2025 strikes on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure has expanded into a direct regional confrontation. The February 28, 2026 operation that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei marked one of the most dramatic escalations in the history of the Islamic Republic.
Since then, waves of strikes, retaliation, and proxy maneuvering across the region have pushed the confrontation to full-scale war.
Rather than relying solely on conventional military power, Iran has attempted to lean on the network the Quds Force spent decades building.
Iran-aligned militias have a long record of attacking U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, and American commanders remain alert for renewed escalation. Hezbollah has signaled it could rejoin a wider regional fight if the conflict expands. Other Iranian-backed groups across the region have also indicated they could widen the confrontation.
At sea, the Red Sea has become another battlefield.
Houthi forces in Yemen, backed by Iranian weapons and broader support, have launched missile and drone attacks against commercial shipping lanes and international naval forces operating in the region.
Those attacks have disrupted global trade routes and forced Western naval coalitions to expand their presence to protect maritime traffic.
Meanwhile, Iranian missiles and drones continue to loom over the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints.
The battlefield now stretches across much of the Middle East.
And that is exactly how the Quds Force system was designed to work.
Iran does not need to defeat the United States outright.
It only needs to create enough instability across enough fronts that Washington and its allies must constantly react.
Soleimani may be gone.
But the machine he built is still running.
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