OPINION — Despite suffering heavy losses to combined U.S.-Israeli military strikes, the Iranian regime remains defiant. It’s recent reluctance to send a delegation to Islamabad to resume talks with the U.S. was not—as President Trump asserted—because the regime is too “fractured.” It did not attend because it calculated it is operating from a position of strength, not weakness. Their calculus is r...
The strongest version of this narrative highlights the Houthis as a semi-autonomous actor with strategic agency, not merely an Iranian proxy. The analysis effectively challenges the oversimplified "proxy" framing by presenting evidence of Houthi independence—such as their refusal to attack Red Sea shipping despite Iranian pressure and their internal debates over escalation. The piece also correctly identifies the Bab el-Mandeb Strait as a critical vulnerability, with the potential to amplify eco...