Middle East Crisis Israel vs. Iran

Expert: Iran Wants to Show Nothing Has Changed

Iran has never intended to stop supplying its proxy groups with weapons. This is what security expert Michael Knights tells CNN after several seizures of weapons bound for Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in recent times.

Knights says that Tehran may not have the ability to deliver as much as before, but adds:

- But if you are Iran's Revolutionary Guard right now, you want to show: "We still exist, we are here, nothing has changed."

After the setbacks - Tehran gives allies more weapons

Iran is making new attempts to arm its allied groups in other parts of the region, reports the Wall Street Journal. Israeli and American attacks have hit both Iran and its allies hard, and several seizures recently suggest that Tehran wants to supply proxy groups, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, with new weapons.

A shipment of missiles and drone parts has been stopped by the Yemeni government, and the Lebanese government has seized Russian anti-tank missiles of a model often used by Hezbollah.

Mohammed al-Basha, who heads the US-based analysis firm Basha Report, says that the Houthi rebels' weapons stockpiles have been destroyed in airstrikes and that Iran is trying to act quickly.

- Tehran wants to maintain a high tempo in attacks on Israel and commercial shipping.