The Collapse of Iran’s “Resistance” Empire

For decades, the Islamic Republic cloaked repression in the rhetoric of Palestine. Now, its empire of proxies is collapsing—and its people are paying the price

Since its inception in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has built much of its foreign policy on a lie: that it is fighting for Palestine. In reality, “liberating Jerusalem” has served less as a guiding principle and more as a propaganda tool—justification for proxy militias, regional destabilization, and brutal sectarian warfare. Tehran’s support for the Palestinian cause has never been about solidarity. It’s always been about power.

The Iranian regime likes to portray itself as the vanguard of resistance. But the revolution that toppled the Shah was not a theocratic uprising—it was a broad coalition of liberals, secularists, nationalists, and leftists. Ayatollah Khomeini hijacked it. Within weeks, dissenting voices were silenced. Political opponents were executed. A new constitution enshrined not only clerical rule but an explicit mandate to “export the revolution.”

That export wasn’t medical aid or educational missions—it was militias. From Hezbollah in Lebanon to Shiite death squads in Iraq, to the Houthis in Yemen and pro-Assad forces in Syria, Iran built an empire of armed proxies. The banner was always “resistance,” but the result has been consistent: collapsed states, deepened sectarianism, and millions of displaced civilians. After four decades of this strategy, Iran has gained influence in four Arab capitals—Baghdad, Beirut, Damascus, and Sana’a—but has done nothing to bring Palestinians closer to statehood.

Tehran’s supposed commitment to Palestine rings especially hollow when you look at what its proxies have done to Palestinians themselves.

Take Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein, more than 50,000 Palestinian refugees lived uneasily but protected in Baghdad. After the 2003 U.S. invasion, Iran-backed Shiite militias unleashed a wave of ethnic cleansing. Palestinian neighborhoods were raided, families abducted, and Sunni clerics assassinated. Human rights groups documented systematic violence. By 2006, the Palestinian presence in Iraq was nearly erased. Iran, which controlled many of these militias, did nothing to stop it.

Or consider Syria, where Iran invested billions to keep Bashar al-Assad in power. From the earliest days of peaceful protests, Tehran deployed Hezbollah fighters and Quds Force commanders to crush dissent. The regime used barrel bombs and chemical weapons, with Iranian support. Millions were displaced. Among them: Palestinian refugees who had lived in Syria for generations.

Iran’s foreign policy is riddled with contradictions. Its constitution declares support for “the just struggles of the oppressed,” but its actions say otherwise. It arms Marxist militias like the PKK in Turkey, not out of solidarity with Kurds, but to undermine a rival Muslim-majority power. It fuels sectarian conflict across the region while claiming to champion Islamic unity. It chants “Death to America” while sending diplomats to secret nuclear negotiations in Vienna and Geneva.

The Islamic Republic is an opportunistic regime. When the Houthis in Yemen began disrupting Red Sea shipping lanes in late 2023, it was Iran that quietly pressured them to stand down, not to protect civilians, but to revive backchannel talks with Washington. When Iran’s economy is crumbling, it pauses “jihad” in exchange for sanctions relief. The strategy is quiet desperation.

Hezbollah began as a militia resisting Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon. Today, it is a parallel state, propped up by Iranian money and firepower, dominating Lebanese politics and silencing its critics. In Iraq, groups like Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq and Kata’ib Hizbollah operate as mafia-style militias, extorting communities they once claimed to protect.

In Yemen, the Houthis fly Iranian flags and chant Tehran’s slogans while plunging the country into famine and ruin. In Syria, Iran backed one of the 21st century’s most brutal regimes. All of this, we’re told, is in the name of Palestine.

But what have Palestinians gained from Iran’s decades of “resistance”? No state. No peace. No dignity. Just another foreign power exploiting their tragedy. And now, even that power is cracking under the weight of its contradictions.

Today, Iran’s empire is not just faltering—it’s on fire.

The Islamic Republic is now engaged in its most direct and devastating war with Israel to date. What began as a series of proxy maneuvers has erupted into open conflict. On June 13, 2025, Israel launched a sweeping campaign of airstrikes on Iranian territory, targeting military infrastructure and nuclear sites. In response, Tehran unleashed a barrage of missiles and drones on Israeli cities. Civilian casualties are mounting on both sides. Iranian cities are facing fuel shortages and mass displacement. Tehran is under lockdown.

The regime that spent decades fighting its wars through others now finds itself bleeding at home.

It is no longer just Baghdad or Damascus or Sana’a paying the price; it’s Isfahan, Natanz, and Tehran. Iranian civilians are fleeing. Hospitals are overwhelmed. For the first time, the consequences of Tehran’s adventurism are not abstract—they are visible in the bombed-out remains of its own cities. The slogans of “resistance” sound emptier than ever.

In Iraq, Iran’s proxies are fractured. Among younger Shiites, once sympathetic to “resistance” rhetoric, there is rising anger over corruption, unemployment, and subservience to Tehran. Iran-backed militias are increasingly seen as occupiers rather than protectors. In Lebanon, Hezbollah, long the crown jewel of Iran’s proxy empire, is politically isolated and militarily weakened. The death of Hassan Nasrallah in 2024 and ongoing Israeli pressure have left the group reeling.

In Syria, Iran’s influence was gutted after Bashar al-Assad’s regime finally collapsed in late 2024. A brutal investment, paid in blood and treasure, ended in failure. In Yemen, the Houthis—once Tehran’s most disruptive proxy—agreed to a ceasefire in May 2025 under intense global pressure. Iranian leverage in the Gulf is waning.

The so-called Axis of Resistance now resembles a wounded hydra: scarred, scattered, and leaderless.

Inside Iran, the situation is no better. The regime’s internal legitimacy had already been crumbling since the 2022 women-led uprising. “Woman, Life, Freedom” remains a living indictment. Youth unemployment is rampant. The rial has nosedived. The Revolutionary Guard has become a bloated cartel, more focused on monopolizing industry than defending the republic. What’s left of public trust is evaporating.

In the face of war, economic collapse, and international isolation, Iranian leaders still invoke the Palestinian cause as justification. Not out of conviction, but out of desperation. The more Tehran loses grip at home, the more loudly it claims to be defending Palestinians. It’s a sleight of hand. If there is an enemy abroad, there’s an excuse for tyranny at home.

But that excuse is wearing thin. Iran’s decades-long project of exporting “resistance” has collapsed into strategic failure and moral bankruptcy.

It lost Syria. Its militias are discredited across Iraq. Hezbollah is weakened. The Houthis are retreating. And in Gaza, its weapons have delivered only destruction, not progress. After years of exporting chaos, the war has come home. Iranian cities now face the same devastation once inflicted by its proxies.

This conflict has exposed the regime’s core delusion: that it stood for justice. In reality, it stood for power, repression, and survival. The myth of revolutionary solidarity has collapsed under the weight of civilian casualties, economic ruin, and growing public dissent.

For decades, Tehran used the Palestinian cause to justify its actions and mask its failures. That mask is gone. What remains is a regime out of breath, out of allies, and increasingly out of time.

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