Since the end of October 2022, Lebanon has not had a president despite suffering from a persistent and worsening politico-economic crisis characterized by extreme poverty, uncertainty, and state failure.
Since the Iranian revolution of 1979, Tehran has invested heavily in its strategy toward the Arab World. Today, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the generals in the Revolutionary Guard are as committed as ever to remain deeply engaged in Arab countries, from Lebanon to Syria and Yemen and beyond. But what sorts of drivers shape Iran’s Arab strategy? Is it about promoting basic Iranian national interests or exporting the ideology of the Islamic Republic, or even a combination of the two missions?
Randa Slim is the Director of the Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues Program at the Middle East Institute and a non-resident fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced and International Studies (SAIS) Foreign Policy Institute.