How Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' reshaped war in the Middle East

Summary

Podcast Summary: Consider This from NPR

Episode: How Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' Reshaped War in the Middle East

Air date: August 9, 2026
Host: Rob Schmitz
Guest: Peter Salisbury, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs

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Overview

This episode explores how Iran’s network of allied groups, dubbed the "Axis of Resistance," has fundamentally changed the nature of warfare and geopolitical power dynamics in the Middle East. Through conversation with Peter Salisbury, an expert on the region, the episode dissects the decentralized structure of Iranian-backed militias, their technological advancements—especially in drone warfare—and the challenges these groups present to traditional U.S. and Israeli strategies.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Escalation of Maritime Attacks and Risks

• Situation Update: Iranian demands threaten to keep the key shipping strait closed; the U.S. unlikely to meet these demands.
  • “Things are still dangerous.” (A, 00:24)
  • Only “10% of the tankers that used to transit the strait on a given day are making it through.” (Tim Wilkins, Intertanko, 00:33)
• Yemen’s Houthis have launched another attack on a Saudi oil facility—recent violence is part of this wider struggle.
  • “Iran and its allied groups have so far withstood American attacks and increasing economic pressure. They’ve prolonged the war and they’ve disrupted American and Israeli strategy.” (A, 00:58)

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2. Understanding the "Axis of Resistance"

• Definition: A network of non-state armed groups Iran has heavily invested in—Hezbollah (Lebanon), Houthis (Yemen), and various Iraqi militias.
  • “The axis of resistance is a network of non-state armed groups that Iran has been investing in for the last 20 to 40 years.” (Peter Salisbury, 03:12)
• Functionality: These groups now independently launch drones and missiles at adversaries, including Saudi Arabia and shipping in the Red Sea.
  • “Groups in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq are all now launching drones missiles at various adversaries.” (B, 03:12)

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3. Decentralized Power Dynamics

• Structure: While originally top-down, the network has evolved into an “ecosystem,” not just a hierarchy.
  • “While they're still very closely tied to Tehran, still very reliant on Iran, they have their own autonomous capabilities, their own supply lines and have their own connections to one another…it's less kind of a network and more an ecosystem.” (B, 04:02)
• Knowledge Sharing: Group resiliency is enabled by sharing information and capabilities, making them hard to defeat.

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4. Iranian Training and Education System

• Evolution: Iran expanded its commitment in the past 25 years, creating a “tiered education system” for its proxies.
  • “So you can now be trained not just in basic military tactics, but in how to use relatively advanced drones and missiles, how to build, build them...They're not just sending them weapons and telling them which buttons to press.” (B, 04:47)

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5. The Impact of Cheap, Accessible Technology

• Drone Warfare Revolution: Formerly, advanced weapons were hard to get. Now parts are cheap, available, and mass-produced (often in China).
  • “Fast forward a decade and a half...A lot of what goes into Houthi drones, Hezbollah drones, the Iranian drones as well, are manufactured very cheaply at large scale in China in particular.” (B, 05:54)
• Supply Chains: Militias run their own international procurement networks, buying parts directly.
  • “Most of these groups now have their own fairly sophisticated international supply chains. They work with businessmen, with traders in China, across the world, in the Gulf...” (B, 07:11)

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6. The Challenge for the U.S. and Its Allies

• Obsolete Strategies: Past policies (e.g., targeting leaders or supply depots) no longer suffice against these decentralized, resilient actors.
  • “The Israelis used to describe Iran in the Axis as an octopus with tentacles...Really what you're dealing with is something...like the Internet, where everything kind of moves through 100 different places all at once.” (B, 08:17)
• Strategic Reality: U.S. ambitions must be tempered unless it’s prepared for perpetual multi-front conflict.
  • “It's going to be very difficult to uproot these groups...unless they're willing to really engage in long term, forever war in the Middle east, not just in one country, but four or five all at once.” (B, 09:12)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Axis’ Resilience:
  • “They have their own autonomous capabilities, their own supply lines and have their own connections to one another and pool knowledge across what's less kind of a network and more an ecosystem.”
    — Peter Salisbury (04:02)
• On supply chain sophistication:
  • “Most of these groups now have their own fairly sophisticated international supply chains. They work with businessmen, with traders in China, across the world, in the Gulf...”
    — Peter Salisbury (07:11)
• On the impossibility of simple solutions:
  • “It's going to be very difficult to uproot these groups because it's not just affecting conflicts in the Middle east, it's affecting conflict all over the world, from Ukraine to Sudan to Ethiopia and beyond.”
    — Peter Salisbury (09:12)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:24] - Tanker traffic and shipping threats in the Strait
• [00:58] - Iranian-backed Houthis escalate attacks
• [03:12] - The nature and function of the Axis of Resistance
• [04:02] - Decentralized structure and new group autonomy
• [04:47] - Iranian military education for proxies
• [05:54] - Technological transformation and supply chains
• [07:11] - How groups acquire weapons and parts
• [08:17] - Why old strategies for containment no longer work
• [09:12] - Future strategic and security challenges

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Conclusion

The episode illuminates how Iran’s investment in decentralized, technologically savvy, and self-sustaining proxy groups has changed the calculus for U.S. and regional powers. The “Axis of Resistance” is now an adaptive, resilient ecosystem that makes conventional military strategies ineffective and points to a future where controlling conflict requires fundamentally new approaches—and probably, more modest goals.

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End of summary.

Transcript

[A]

It's consider this where every day we go deep on one big news story. Iranian leaders have issued a series of demands to reopen the key waterway to shipping, demands the US Appears unlikely to meet. President Trump told Axios on Sunday that he was quote, low keying it when it came to negotiations for sailors aboard shipping vessels in the strait. Things are still dangerous.

[B]

We are still having vessels being targeted by drones and by missiles and the number of tankers transiting through the strait is massively reduced compared to what it was pre conflict.

[A]

Tim Wilkins is managing director of a tanker ship industry group, Intertanko. He says just 10% of the tankers that used to transit the strait on a given day are making it through.

[B]

We had quite a severe situation last week where we had a gas tanker which was hit and did unfortunately had to be evacuated. A fire did break out. So you know, even with the US Facilitated, there are still risks and it doesn't eliminate that risk of an attack.

[A]

Meanwhile, Yemen's Houthis said they attacked an oil facility Sunday in southwestern Saudi Arabia, the latest attack by the Iranian backed rebels. Consider this. Iran and its allied groups have so far withstood American attacks and increasing economic pressure. They've prolonged the war and they've disrupted American and Israeli strategy. From npr, I'm Rob Schmitz.

[C]

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[D]

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[A]

It's Consider this from npr. Part of what has made Iran so effective in the war with the US Is its Vast network of all in the region. Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and Iran backed Iraqi militias. They're often referred to as the axis of resistance. Peter Salisbury wrote about them in a Foreign affairs magazine article this month. Salisbury teaches at Columbia University School of International and Public affairs. And I called him up to ask him to explain this axis of resistance and how it's shaping the war.

[B]

The axis of resistance is a network of non state armed groups that Iran has been investing in for the last 20 to 40 years and has really built up the capacity of, to the extent that groups in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq are all now launching drones missiles at various adversaries and in particular the Houthis and the Iraqi groups are able to launch cross border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia and on commerce in the Red Sea in a way that has proved very difficult for the United States.

[A]

Is this a top down structure like with Tehran at the top, or how do power dynamics work within this?

[B]

It probably started something like that. But increasingly these groups, while they're still very closely tied to Tehran, still very reliant on Iran, they have their own autonomous capabilities, their own supply lines and have their own connections to one another and pool knowledge across what's less kind of a network and more an ecosystem. And that has allowed them after a series of attacks by the United States and Israel over the past several years to reconstitute themselves and continue to pose

[A]

this kind of threat and describe the training of some of these groups and how involved Iran might be in that training.

[B]

So maybe 20, 25 years ago, Iran started really investing in training, not just Hezbollah, who it's got this long term investment in, and not just Hamas, which it had kind of this loose connection with throughout the 1990s, but really started building up a curriculum almost from basic military education up to higher education. So you can now be trained not just in basic military tactics, but in how to use relatively advanced drones and missiles, how to build, build them, including sending people off to technical training and even kind of higher institutes of learning in Iran, but also at training sites in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Yemen. So they've essentially created a kind of tiered education system for these groups that again integrates these capabilities and knowledge into them. They're not just sending them weapons and telling them which buttons to press on

[A]

the note of weapons. You know, I'm curious, you know, how much of role has the newer and cheaper technology that we've seen played, like the usage of drones in these groups ability to wield power?

[B]

I mean, it's been transformative, frankly, maybe 10, 15 years ago, the US and other Western powers were able to limit access to advanced weapons because they controlled most of the technology, most of the parts, what are known as intermediate goods that were flowing around the world. So you might know how to build a weapon, but to actually get hold of the stuff that you wanted to stick into it was very, very hard. And people lacked the manufacturing expertise needed to make these things. Fast forward a decade and a half. A lot of what goes into Houthi drones, Hezbollah drones, the Iranian drones as well, are manufactured very cheaply at large scale in China in particular. So the choke point for those goods has moved. They've become cheaper and much more available, particularly for making everything up to most of what goes into the Shahed 136, which is the famous drone the Iranians have been launching on the Gulf states. But also these sort of smaller, simpler designs that the Axis groups tend to use.

[A]

You mentioned that China makes a lot of these parts. I mean, how do these particular groups obtain these parts? I mean, are they obtaining them directly from China?

[B]

Yeah, pretty much. I mean, most of these groups now have their own fairly sophisticated international supply chains. They work with businessmen, with traders in China, across the world, in the Gulf, to get things onto ships and either brought into ports or smuggled that kind of last mile into the territory they, they control. So again, fundamentally different than 10, 15, 20 years ago, when most of what they got had to be shipped direct from Iran.

[A]

That's really interesting. How are the US and its allies fighting these types of groups, knowing this type of power structure?

[B]

Well, that's part of the problem and part of the challenge that we've seen over, particularly the last six months. The assumptions behind Epic Fury and the assumptions behind things like the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign was that they were powerful enough and that enough of the capabilities, the needs of these groups were concentrated in specific places that they could simply kill the right number of people who had the knowledge needed to run these processes, blow up enough warehouses, manufacturing sites, along with doing all the things they've been doing to try and constrain their economies. And what they're learning now is that because the pool of knowledge needed to procure the parts, build the drones, get them up in the sky, is actually sort of much more diffuse and distributed. The Israelis used to describe Iran in the Axis as an octopus with tentacles, which suggests this relatively simple, almost mechanistic structure. And really what you're dealing with something, it's like the difference between an old fashioned telephone exchange, where everything's routed through one site and the Internet, where everything kind of moves through 100 different places all at once before your data, your information gets to you.

[A]

So given how decentralized and diffuse this network is, what kind of new strategy might be needed for the US and its allies?

[B]

It's really tricky. I think something that's hard for people to hear but is nevertheless very true is the first thing people need to do is maybe limit their ambitions in terms of what can be achieved unless they're willing to really engage in long term, forever war in the Middle east, not just in one country, but four or five all at once. It's going to be very difficult to uproot these groups because it's not just affecting conflicts in the Middle east, it's affecting conflict all over the world, from Ukraine to Sudan to Ethiopia and beyond. And it's going to become an even bigger challenge for powerful states and for peace and security everywhere in the coming months, years, decades.

[A]

That is Peter Salisbury. He's a professor at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. Thank you.

[B]

Thanks so much for having me.

[A]

This episode was produced by Henry Larson and Daniel Offman. It was edited by Sarah Robbins and Michael Levitt. Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorney. It's consider this from npr, I'm Rob Schmitz.

[D]

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