Iran Has Military Advantage Over U.S. in Middle East Due to Asymmetric Forces, Report Says by David Brennen - Newsweek
A new report has warned that Iran is leveraging its asymmetric warfare networks to establish a military advantage over the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East, as Washington and Tehran maintain a tense standoff over Iran's nuclear research program.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) published a new report on Thursday—titled Iran's Networks of Influence in the Middle East—detailing Tehran's success in establishing a series of non-state forces across the region to protect and further its interests.
While the U.S. and its allies are operating with conventional military forces, the report said Iran's strength lies in its influence within non-state militias and insurgent groups in several nations.
IISS said this "third-part capability" has become more significant than Tehran's ballistic missile program, its nascent nuclear capabilities or its large—though outdated—conventional armed forces.
Though the conventional balance is still in favor of the U.S.—by far the most advanced and well-funded military in the world—Iran's capability in the so-called "gray zone" has shifted the balance of effective force towards Tehran…