Opinion

Iran’s proxy war has crossed oceans and is now knocking on America’s door

The Al-Saadi case shows how Tehran's proxies exploit cartel corridors, criminal networks, and migration pipelines

By Ammon Blair Fox News

Published May 26, 2026 5:00am EDT

Facebook Twitter Threads Flipboard Comments Print Email Add Fox News on Google

close

Video

Iran foreign ministry says deal not imminent amid ongoing US talks

Fox News foreign correspondent Jeff Paul reports from Dubai on the latest developments in U.S.-Iran nuclear deal negotiations on ‘Fox News Live.’

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Americans still debate Iran through an outdated lens. We speak of war as something that starts with bombs, troop deployments, or congressional declarations. Yet Iran has waged asymmetric war against the United States and the West since 1979 — through terrorism, proxy forces, illicit finance, ideological movements, cyber operations, criminal partnerships, and gray-zone tactics deliberately kept below the threshold of conventional conflict.

The real danger is not merely Iran’s capabilities. It is our refusal to recognize the nature of the fight.

Many Americans view conflict with Iran as something happening "over there" — in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, the Red Sea, or the Strait of Hormuz. In reality, Iran’s infrastructure has embedded itself much closer to home: across Latin America, inside cartel corridors, through illicit financial networks, migration pipelines, and the operational seams inside the United States itself.

AMERICAN ‘JIHAD’ FUELED BY 'RISKY SOURCE' INSIDE US BORDERS, WARNS NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERT

This did not happen by accident. It was built deliberately over decades via proxies, criminal convergence, ideological networks, covert finance, and tradecraft designed to obscure attribution. In fact, just two days after I testified before Congress warning about the convergence........

© Fox News