New Report: The reducing of sanctions on Iran did not limit Iran-backed militancy

According to a new report from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the reducing of sanctions on Tehran did not limit or moderate Iranian-backed militancy. The report alerted that IRGC-made militia groups present now the greatest threat to regional stability.

Moreover, the latest report entitled, The View From Tehran: Iran’s Militia Doctrine and co-authored by TBI’s Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi exposed that while economic sanctions on the Iranian regime have considerably weakened Iran’s already weak economy, it has not changed the regime’s priorities.

Aarabi informed Al Arabiya: The relationship between Tehran, the IRGC, and these manufactured groups is rooted in worldview; they have spent a lot of time indoctrinating and radicalizing these fighters.

He also said: So even if tensions are eased, or if Iran receives sanctions or sanctions are increased, then given the fact that this relationship is not based on material, but it is what based on worldview, these fighters will fight as warriors without borders, regardless of access to funds from Iran.

In fact, the latest report published on Thursday accords with an increased frequency of assaults from the Iran-backed Houthi militia group that on Tuesday, launched four explosives-laden drones on Saudi Arabia, attacked Saudi Arabia’s southern Abha International Airport and achieved to set a civilian plane on fire day later on Wednesday and then fired a ballistic missile and two drone on the southern territories of the Kingdom 24 hours later.

This increase of the number of assaults launched by the Houthis this past week comes just after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed members of Congress that he has the intention to remove the Iran-backed Houthis from the US list of terrorist organizations.

The US State Department intends to remove both the Houthi militia and three of its senior leaders from a terrorism list, according to a document got by Al Arabiya English.

The two TBI authors wrote in their report: The premise that Iran would moderate its commitment to creating and sponsoring militias due to the thaw in US-Iranian relations after the 2015 nuclear deal and sanctions relief for Tehran was false. The number of militias created by the IRGC surged after this period, and the Guard’s presence abroad peaked, with the Quds Force expanding its operations in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Aarabi also indicated that report also showed Iran’s support for militia groups on a spectrum, specially the IRGC’s role in helping those groups that it has made like Hezbollah in Lebanon to supporting grassroots groups with shared or tactical interests, from Hamas to the Taliban.

Also, Aarabi, using the phrase in reference to the Shia Islamist principle that gives Iran’s supreme leader authority over Shia Muslims: There is a spectrum and we show this in the report from groups that are grassroots militias that have shared or tactical interests, such as the IRGC’s relationship with the Taliban, for example. Or, on the other side of the spectrum, there are groups that have been manufactured and have ideological compliance, they have embraced Vilayat-e Faqih and they have embraced Khamenei as the supreme authority.

Aarabi also said: Within this latter group, there is a spectrum. Groups that observe practical implementation of day to day Vilayat-e Faqih of Khamenei’s practical will. They obviously have a much closer relationship with the IRGC and they receive more support and essentially more ideological compliance and more support from Teheran, adding: It is these groups in particular that are going to be the hardest to dismantle and counter and they pose the greatest threat to stability in the Middle East.