One of the most effective ways to keep weakening Iran's brutal regime, hopefully on the path to escorting it out, is not only to put direct pressure on the regime itself, but also on the countries that allow it to operate freely, fund its proxies, and expand its influence.
Iran's regime survives largely because it has enablers to help it move money, recruit people, transfer weapons, and rebuild after every round of sanctions. If these countries face real consequences for advancing Iran's activities, the regime's ability to rearm itself will shrink dramatically. Weakening Iran requires cutting off not just its internal power, but also the foreign platforms that let it breathe, operate, and grow.
Iran's networks across the region demonstrate how deeply the regime depends on other countries to advance its agenda. Recent discoveries of Hamas activity in Turkey highlight that the terrorist group has been using Turkish territory as a logistical and financial hub, benefiting from Iran's sponsorship and direction. Findings from Israeli intelligence revealed that individuals affiliated with Hamas had been operating, fundraising, and coordinating from Turkey, reinforcing long-standing concerns that Tehran uses the country as a safe bridge to move money and connect its proxy networks.
This appears part of a larger pattern: Iran identifies countries where enforcement is weak, political cover is available, or financial systems can be exploited, then proceeds to build layers of infrastructure there. When these countries do not face consequences, Iran's regime becomes more resilient, knowing that when pressure builds at home, it can still expand abroad.
In Iraq, Iran-backed militias have for years operated with impunity, shaping security, politics, and the economy. Iran's militias control border crossings, smuggling routes, and major economic contracts, giving the regime a revenue stream and influence far beyond its borders. Iran uses Iraq not just as a military platform but as a financial artery. Iran's regime moves funds through banks, exchanging currencies, and uses corrupt networks to bypass sanctions. With no pressure on Iraq to restrain these groups and clean up its financial system, Iran's regime enjoys a "back door" that keeps it alive even under heavy international pressure. It is a door that the West has left open for too long.
Lebanon presents an even clearer example. Hezbollah essentially functions as a branch of Iran, controlling large sections of Lebanon's political system, ports, military, security agencies, and border crossings. Lebanon's weakness has allowed the Iranian regime to turn the country into its most important forward operating base, one that sits directly on Israel's border. Hezbollah receives funding, training, and weapons from Iran, and uses Lebanon's political paralysis to keep itself untouchable. If no one pressures Lebanon's political elites and institutions to stop tolerating Hezbollah's dominance, Iran will continue to enjoy a permanent military stronghold there. This is why pressuring Iran alone is never enough; its proxies are anchored in states that permit their presence.
Outside the Middle East, China plays a critical role by purchasing large amounts of Iranian oil, even when sanctions are in place and even when the international community attempts to impose restrictions. By buying Iranian oil, China gives Tehran the hard currency it needs to fund Hezbollah, Hamas, and other proxy militias in the Middle East. Its oil exports also help Iran stabilize its economy at home and avoid the financial collapse that sanctions are supposed to cause. China essentially has been giving Iran financial oxygen at just the moment when the international community has been trying to suffocate it.
Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, China, and other states provide Iran with safe geography, money, energy markets, financial loopholes, proxy shelters, and diplomatic cover. Leaving those countries untouched while sanctioning Iran is like cutting off water in one room while leaving a faucet running in another. It does not work, and the mullahs, of course, know that.
President Donald J, Trump's solution appears to be a "deal" that Iran's neighbors have evidently conned him into accepting, to spare them having to live in a truly democratic and peaceful Middle East where their corrupt dictatorships might be exposed.
Worse, this "deal" would seemingly leave in place the savage mullahs who slaughtered more than 36,000 of their own citizens, apparently in just one night: January 8-9.
It is not even enough to sanction Iran and the countries that allow the regime to breathe. Iran's mullahs need to be offered an off-ramp to take the money and run, as Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro was. A transitional government with the Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, with the help of the US, could hardly be worse than the transitional government in Venezuela headed by Delcy Rodriguez.
If countries such as Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan -- all committed sponsors of terror -- do not want to see a Middle East freed of it, too bad for them. For only then will not just the Iranian people -- but the entire region -- be able to move forward toward stability and security, far away from their destructive reach.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
