By Moammar Al-Eryani, Minister of Information, Republic of Yemen

The 2026 military conflict with Iran is framed as the culmination of nearly five decades of strategy rooted in the post-1979 doctrine of “exporting the revolution,” not a sudden crisis.

Iran’s model of influence through proxies such as Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iraqi factions, combined with missile, drone and nuclear capabilities, has weakened regional states, prolonged wars and threatened shipping lanes including Hormuz and the Red Sea.

The author argues that unchecked continuation risked a nuclear-armed Iran with an extensive militia network, making the confrontation the moment when the long-standing strategy could no longer be contained by diplomacy alone.

Some view military conflict with Iran as a sudden escalation imposed by current events. Such interpretations, however, overlook a deeper reality. What the world witnessed in 2026 was not the start of a crisis but the culmination of a strategic trajectory of nearly five decades.

The instability facing the Middle East did not begin with recent military campaigns. Its roots extend to the ideological foundations upon which the Iranian regime was built after the 1979 revolution. From its earliest days, the revolutionary leadership in Tehran adopted a doctrine that far transcends the traditional interests of a state.

The concept of “exporting the revolution” became a cornerstone of Iran’s strategic vision, guiding a foreign policy aimed at expanding influence across borders and reshaping the political landscape of the region.

Unlike the tools of traditional diplomacy, this strategy has relied........

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