Who are Iran's key allies in the Middle East and globally?

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9 hours ago

Iran has spent decades propping up militant groups and political regimes across the Middle East, forming its so-called "Axis of Resistance", while pursuing close relationships with other global powers.
Yet after Israel attacked multiple sites in Iran last weekend, sparking a fierce exchange of missiles, those allies were largely silent.
Israel's powerful ally the US has openly discussed attacking, yet only one Iran-backed militant group has stepped in to defend it.
Here's a closer look at the key alliances in the Iran-Israel conflict and how these allies are responding.
Iran's so-called 'Axis of Resistance'
Since the 1970s, Iran has projected its power across the Middle East using a network of close allies that share its aim of countering US and Israeli influence across the region.
This so-called "Axis of Resistance" threatened that any strikes against Iran or its affiliates would trigger a formidable response.
The network grew to include Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, some armed groups in Iraq and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank.
But over the past two years, the "axis" has been dealt some severe blows, with many of Iran's allies in the region either weakened or ousted from power.
Andreas Krieg, a security expert and associate professor at King's College London, says Iran's ties have unravelled.
"It is not really an 'axis' anymore as [much as] a loose network where everyone largely is occupied with its own survival," he says.
According to Ian Parmeter, a Middle East scholar at the Australian National University (ANU) and a former Australian ambassador to Lebanon, that leaves Iran in its "weakest state" in more than 40 years.
"None of its allies are able to support it in a way that they could previously," he says.
"That's why the Israel Defense Forces have been able to launch these attacks on Iran now."
Click on the cards below to read more about Iran's remaining allies.
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem vowed retaliation for recent Israeli strikes in Lebanon would be carried out in central Tel Aviv. ( Reuters: Al Manar TV )
Hezbollah has long been considered Iran's first line of defence in case of a war with Israel, but the Lebanese militant group has stayed out of the latest conflict.
At one point, Hezbollah was believed to have around 150,000 rockets and missiles, and its former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, once claimed to have 100,000 fighters.
The group was drawn into a full-scale war with Israel last September after it tried to help its ally, Hamas, fight off Israel's offensive in Gaza, which was sparked by the Palestinian militants' October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.
Israel's daring attack, which involved remotely detonating pagers and walkie-talkies armed with explosives that had been distributed to Hezbollah members, killed key members of the armed group as well as some civilians.
While a US-brokered ceasefire halted the Israel-Hezbollah conflict last November, Israel continues to occupy parts of southern Lebanon and carries out near-daily air strikes.
Hezbollah's current leader, Naim Qassem, has condemned Israel's attacks on Iran and offered condolences for the senior Iranian officers who were killed.
But Qassem did not suggest Hezbollah would take part in any retaliation against Israel.
ANU's Mr Parmeter says it is because Hezbollah is still reeling from its losses, with Israel having killed most of its top leaders and destroying much of its arsenal.
"Hezbollah has been very badly degraded, and Iran hasn't been able to resupply it with rockets and missiles," Mr Parmeter says.
"So Hezbollah is not able to create a diversionary attack on Iran's behalf."
Still, Qassem Qassir, a Lebanese analyst close to Hezbollah, told the Associated Press a role for the militant group in the Israel-Iran conflict should not be ruled out.
"This depends on political and field developments," he said. "Anything is possible." Iran-backed: Iraqi militias show solidarity The US launched strikes against the Iranian-backed group Kataib Hezbollah. ( Reuters: Thaier al-Sudani )
Unlike Hezbollah, whose military wing has operated as a non-state actor in Lebanon, the main Iraqi militias are members of a coalition that is officially part of the state defence forces.
For their part in Iran's "axis", the Iraqi militias have occasionally struck bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria.
One of these militias, Kataib Hezbollah, said it was "deeply regrettable" that Israel allegedly fired at Iran from Iraqi airspace in the last week.
The armed group called on the Iraqi government to "urgently expel hostile forces from the country," which is a reference to US troops in Iraq, but it made no threat of force.
Renad Mansour, a senior research fellow at the British think tank Chatham House, told the Associated Press that Iraq's militias did not want to pull their country into a major conflict.
"Things in Iraq are good for them right now, they're connected to the state — they're benefiting politically, economically," Dr Mansour said.
"They've seen what's happened to Iran, to Hezbollah, and they're concerned that Israel will turn on them as well." Iran-backed: Houthis still attacking The strike was the third US attack on Houthi targets in Yemen in recent days. ( AP Photo )
The Houthis remain the only Iran-backed group still firing missiles at Israel as part of a campaign that began with the Gaza war in solidarity with Palestinians.
"Triumphing for the oppressed Palestinian and Iranian peoples … This operation was coordinated with the operations carried out by the Iranian army," a military spokesperson said after targeting central Israel's Jaffa.
The Houthis are mountain fighters who have been battling Saudi-led forces for control of Yemen, in what is widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
They have been the de facto government in north Yemen since a 2022 ceasefire.
The group has a large arsenal of armed drones and ballistic missiles largely supplied by Iran, which it has previously used to fire at ships in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route.
But the ANU's Mr Parmeter says the Houthis are too geographically removed to strategically harm Israel beyond the rebels' sporadic missile attacks.
"Yemen is certainly supported by Iran, but it's too far away to be able to do much damage to Israel," he says.
The US has thwarted most of the previous attacks and carried out retaliatory strikes with Israel on Houthi bases.
Could Iran's global allies step in?
Iran is also part of an informal network of "CRINK" countries, which is an acronym for China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
So far, China has condemned Israel's attacks on Iran but it has limited its response to supporting a diplomatic solution.
North Korea has also condemned the attacks as a "crime against humanity" without offering Iran further support.
It's Russia, however, that has stepped in by offering to mediate the conflict.
Vladimir Putin has close ties with both Iran and Israel's leader. ( Reuters: Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool )
President Vladimir Putin has denounced the attacks on Iran and has reportedly warned that any US intervention would be a "terrible spiral of escalation".
"Russia is certainly very close to Iran at the moment and it's playing a very important role in supplying drones to Russia for the war in Ukraine," Mr Parmeter says.
"So Russia owes Iran for its drones, but, at the same time, Putin and Netanyahu get on very well personally."
According to Mr Parmeter, Russia's offer to mediate is unlikely to "go anywhere" and "it's just a good way for Putin to present as an international statesman".
Mr Parmeter says it is also unlikely that other Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan or the United Arab Emirates would support Iran because they are not close and would not want further escalation.
Israel and US 'extraordinarily close'
Donald Trump shares a close relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu. ( Reuters )
As for Israel, it has the militarily and politically powerful United States as a close ally.
"Netanyahu won't do anything without first clearing it with Trump, he has an extraordinarily close relationship with him," Mr Parmeter says.
US President Donald Trump has called for Iran's "unconditional surrender" and raised the idea that its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, would be an "easy target" if he were to be assassinated.
But the US says it is maintaining a "defensive" position in the Iran–Israel conflict for now, meaning it is only focused on deterring or intercepting attacks on Israel.
Still, Mr Trump has teased that the US "may or may not" strike Iran and would make a decision "within two weeks".
The US currently holds a significant military presence in more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries and on ships throughout the region's waters, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr Parmeter says Israel would want the US to get involved because it needs the American "bunker-buster" bombs to finish destroying Iran's nuclear sites.
These bombs are designed to penetrate deep below the surface before exploding, making them ideal for attacking hardened bunkers and tunnels.
In this case, Mr Parmeter says Israel needs them to significantly damage Iran's Fordow nuclear fuel enrichment plant, built deeply into a mountain.
"The big risk is the United States will get involved in some way, but I don't see it getting involved with boots on the ground or much more than using their bunker-buster bombs," he says.
That's because Mr Trump is facing domestic pressure from within his own Republican base, which is "divided" on whether to get involved in another war, Mr Parmeter says.
Meanwhile, the G7 countries have also expressed their support for the security of Israel, but have urged for "a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza".