Maziar Motamedi

Iran ramp­ing up space launch­es in re­cent years has helped to spur ad­di­tion­al ten­sion with the West.

The Houthis seem to have made a strate­gic shift to­wards mar­itime op­er­a­tions to ramp up pres­sure on the US and Is­rael.

Is­rael is tak­ing a va­ri­ety of ac­tions to crack down on any form of sup­port for the Pales­tin­ian cause.

Is­rael has called Pales­tini­ans re­leased un­der a truce with Hamas vi­o­lent ‘ter­ror­ists.’ But most haven’t been charged.

It might help Iran bol­ster mil­i­tary ties with Rus­sia but could hurt ef­forts to patch up re­la­tions with the EU.

The Iran­ian show of force comes amid height­ened US mil­i­tary pres­ence in the re­gion af­ter Is­rael be­gan bomb­ing Gaza.

Largest hos­pi­tal in the be­sieged en­clave al­ready faced short­ages be­fore Is­raeli forces blew up its med­i­cine ware­house.

Dozens of strikes by Iran-backed groups have tar­get­ed US in­ter­ests in the re­gion as Wash­ing­ton keeps back­ing Is­rael.

The hos­pi­tals in Gaza are un­der heavy as­sault by the Is­raeli mil­i­tary, mak­ing it dif­fi­cult to doc­u­ment ca­su­al­ty fig­ures.

Just like Hezbol­lah, it ap­pears the Iran-backed Houthis are still re­frain­ing from us­ing all the tools in their ar­se­nal.