What is Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' against Israel and the United States?
ExplainerSince 1979, Tehran has skillfully and opportunistically built up a diverse network of armed groups by exploiting the political and military vulnerabilities of its neighbors.
"We kiss the foreheads and arms of the resourceful and intelligent designers and the courageous Palestinian youth." Three days after the armed wing of Hamas ravaged southern Israel, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei clearly expressed his support for the Palestinian Islamist movement, but denied that the Islamic Republic of Iran was involved.
Cheering on without making demands, providing support without getting involved, and providing deterrence through proxies without being exposed to reprisals: These are the goals of the "unity of fronts" which is proclaimed by the "Axis of Resistance," whose components have been harassing Israeli and American forces stationed in the Middle East since the October 7 attack, and are threatening to join Hamas in its war against Israel.
Since its establishment on April 1, 1979, the Islamic Republic founded by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Iran has been committed to spreading its revolutionary theocratic ideology (velayat-e faqih, which preaches the supremacy of the religious over the political) and eradicating Israel, which it sees as a Western "cancer" in Muslim lands. Since then, Tehran has diligently and opportunistically built up a diverse network of armed groups, exploiting the political and military vulnerabilities of its neighbors, as well as its ties with the communities of the "Shiite crescent."
Founded in 1980 at the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is an elite military force, established as a separate entity from the regular army. Conceived as a praetorian guard obeying only the supreme leader's orders, their primary mission was to protect him and his regime; but the outbreak of war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq forced them – for lack of resources – to take on the role of recruiters. By mobilizing Iraqi and Afghan Shiite exiles, they formed a foreign legion of several thousand men, who took heavy losses in the southern Iraqi marshes and laid the foundations of the axis that would soon extend to Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Later, the Quds Force, a branch of the Revolutionary Guard responsible for external operations, took on the role of linchpin of the "Axis of Resistance."
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A diverse coalition of groups affiliated to Iran
Islamic Republic of Iran. Source of the "Axis of Resistance" against Israel and US Middle East policy
Shiite population. Tehran has used the defense of Shiite communities throughout the Middle East as an argument to rally political or armed groups to its cause
Areas of operation of the main armed groups which are affiliated with the "Axis of Resistance"
Corridor that Iran has sought to secure through its allies, in order to supply them with weapons
Estimated missile range of the "Axis of Resistance"
The Islamic Revolution's enemies
US military presence
The State of Israel
"Axis of Resistance" operations since October 7
Strikes on Israeli territory between October 7 and December 1, performed by:
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Hezbollah
Unidentified Syrian groups
Houthi rebels
Strikes targeting American forces, claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq
Infographic by Le Monde
Sources: ISW, Wilson Center, M. Paglia and V. Tourret « L’Iran et ses proxys au Moyen-Orient » (Etudes de l’IFRI, 2020), Military Academy Documentation Center, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Les clés du Moyen-Orient, Foreign Policy Research Institute, AFP, Amwaj.media, Le Monde
An axis of deterrence
Over a period of some 40 years, Iran has successfully built up this "Axis of Resistance" against "the Little and the Great Satan" – Israel and the United States, respectively. The axis stretches through Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The name chosen to designate this complex network came as a reaction to US President George W. Bush's January 29, 2002, State of the Union address – in which he denounced the "axis of evil" formed, according to him, by Iran, Iraq and North Korea – and expresses both a defensive intent and Tehran's expansionist ambitions.
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