Iran Threatens U.S. With Ultimatum As Proxy Wars Escalate Throughout Middle East

(New York, N.Y.) — Amid a now month-long campaign by Israel to destroy Iranian terrorist partner Hamas, which has already significantly diminished its capacity to launch further violence, senior regime leaders in Iran are threatening to attack the U.S. unless Washington “immediately stop[s] the war in Gaza and implement[s] a ceasefire,” according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

The Iranian regime has had a heavy hand in the attacks against Israel emanating from Gaza. According to press reports, Tehran was involved in the operational planning of the coordinated assault from air, land, and sea. The Washington Post reported that the planning for the operation took place over a year, with the buildup of arms and equipment purchased with tens of millions of dollars provided by Iran.

Khamenei also seeks to apply pressure on the U.S. through Iran’s proxy militias based in Iraq. U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Syria have been repeatedly targeted by affiliates of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC)-Quds Force, which prompted President Joe Biden to order targeted strikes on an IRGC-linked weapons warehouse in eastern Syria on Wednesday.

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels shot down a U.S. military surveillance drone off the coast of Yemen this week, too, underscoring the multi-front war Iran continues to wage against the U.S. through its terror proxies throughout the entire region.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in conversation with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last week, emphasized the U.S.’ commitment to deterring any “state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this conflict,” clearly referring to Iran and its proxy terror groups Hezbollah and Hamas. According to Austin, the additional forces in the area are meant to “bolster regional deterrence efforts, increase force protection for U.S. forces in the region, and assist in the defense of Israel.”

United Against Nuclear Iran’s (UANI) resource, Iran’s Proxy Wars: Iraq, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories/Gaza, Syria, Yemen, tracks this behavior across the full spectrum of Tehran’s proxy and partner network in the Middle East. To read UANI’s resource, please click here.