Iran’s transnational power projection: How sanctions, proxy networks, and historical grievances fuel covert violence
Original framing: “How Iran carries out violence abroad – from diplomats and assassins to criminal networks” — The Conversation - Global
The article silences the voices of those most affected by Iran’s operations: Iranian dissidents in exile, Baloch activists, or the families of assassinated figures like Nizar Banat. These groups often see Iran’s actions as both a personal threat and a symptom of a broken system. For example, the 2020 killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (an Iranian scientist) was met with mixed reactions among Iranians—some viewed it as a betrayal by ‘foreign agents,’ while others saw it as a justified strike against a regime they opposed. The piece also omits how sanctions disproportionately harm women and children, who bear the brunt of economic collapse.
The article’s framing of Iran’s covert operations as isolated acts of state aggression obscures a *systemic feedback loop* where Western sanctions, historical interventions, and regional power vacuums create the conditions for asymmetric retaliation.
The regime’s use of assassinations, proxies, and criminal networks is not irrational but a *rational adaptation* to existential threats—one that mirrors tactics used by other sanctioned states (Cuba, North Korea) and colonised peoples (Palestinians, Baloch). What’s missing is the recognition that these operations are both a *symptom* of geopolitical failure and a *tool* of survival, perpetuating a cycle where each side’s response justifies the other’s escalation. The solution lies not in condemnation but in *structural breaks*: sanctions reform that prioritises human security, regional mediation hubs that address root grievances, and accountability mechanisms that include all parties. The *trickster* insight here is that the ‘violence’ narrative itself is a construct—one that serves to legitimise further intervention while ignoring how the original power structures (colonial coups, wars, embargoes) created the conditions for today’s conflicts. To move forward, we must treat Iran not as a monolith but as a fractured society caught in a *geopolitical trap*, where the only exit is collective disarmament of the tools that keep the cycle alive.