Iran is seeking greater concessions for its largest proxy and ally, Hezbollah, in negotiations with the United States as questions remain regarding the fate of the Lebanese Shiite militia group.
The deal between the U.S. and Iran, signed Wednesday and early Thursday, doesn’t mention Hezbollah explicitly. But Lebanon, where Hezbollah is at war with Israel, is mentioned twice in the agreement – the only country other than the U.S. and Iran cited.
Iran has insisted that a ceasefire agreement with the U.S. must include an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has held influence for decades. “Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.
Hezbollah joined the war alongside Iran on March 2 after U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei on February 28. The group fired rockets into northern Israel two days after the strikes, prompting an Israeli invasion and continued military operation in southern Lebanon.
Other regional proxy groups, such as the Houthis in Yemen and Iranian-backed Shi’a militias in Iraq, are also part of what Iran calls the ‘Axis of Resistance,’ and have played a notable role in the war, carrying out military actions to assist Iran.
Not all of these proxies hold equal importance for the Islamic Republic, though. Hezbollah is valued substantially more by Iran, with the two’s interests almost inextricably intertwined.
“Hezbollah has always been the crown jewel in the axis of resistance crown,” said Matthew Levitt, senior fellow at the Washington Institute in an interview with Alhurra.
Here’s why:
Proximity to Israel
Hezbollah was founded in 1982 during the Lebanese Civil War in response to an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon. The ferocity of Israel’s military actions, as well as the neutral stance of the Lebanese army which chose to sit on the sidelines during the invasion – positioned Hezbollah as the country’s only real resistance force to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Seeing an opportunity to export the Islamic Revolution across the region, Iran funded and trained the Shiite militia group through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). As Hezbollah grew in power and numbers, and established itself as a political party in 1992 running candidates in the Lebanese parliament, it became Iran’s most powerful proxy, often called a ‘state within a state’ in Lebanon.
Today, Hezbollah is virtually an extension of the IRGC in a way Iran’s other proxies are not, receiving $1 billion from the Iranian government in 2025. One reason for this is simple: it is the only one which actually shares a border with Israel.
“Ultimately, Yemen [the Houthis] is not a frontline state to Israel. Iraq is not a frontline state to Israel,” Levitt said.
Sharing a border with Israel to the south puts Hezbollah directly on the front line against the Islamic Republic’s largest and most formidable adversary in the region. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf stated in a television interview that roughly 4,000 Lebanese men and women died for Iran during the war.
The swiftness of Hezbollah’s response to U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran demonstrated its ability to open a reliable second front for the Islamic Republic.
Strength and Discipline
While all of Iran’s proxies have some military capabilities and are constantly improving tactically, Hezbollah is by far the most rigorous. The Shiite militia group is widely regarded as one of the most disciplined guerrilla forces in the world.
The Shiite militia group’s decades of engagement in combat has put it into an advanced league of military might not shared by the other proxies. The Houthis in Yemen, founded in the 1990s originally as a religious group, didn’t become a serious militant faction until the 2011 Yemeni revolution. Similarly, Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq, such as Badr, didn’t solidify power bases in Iraq until after the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein by the U.S.
Hezbollah has gained extensive combat experience from fighting the highly advanced Israeli army on and off for the last 40 years as well as battling against ISIS and Syrian rebels in the 2010s. It is by far the most formidable military force in Lebanon, significantly more powerful than the Lebanese army.
The Shiite militia group is even able to independently bolster Iranian influence in the region via other proxies on behalf of the Islamic Republic.
“Hezbollah is unlike any other Iranian proxy in the region,” said Josh Yaphe, senior fellow at the Center for National Interest. “It is able to operate abroad, training and equipping affiliated groups, raising funds and evading sanctions, with a level of sophistication and inventiveness that even the IRGC might at times struggle to maintain.”
No other proxy can act for the IRGC in this way. “That makes Lebanese Hezbollah a force multiplier,” said Yaphe.
Ideological Kinship
In addition to military power, exporting the religious and ideological ideals of the Islamic Revolution is a central part of Iran’s regional strategy.
For Iran, Hezbollah aligns closely with its state ideology. The group’s prominence has made southern Lebanon a major outpost of Ayatollah Khomeini’s brand of Shiism.
That ideological alliance deepens the military ties to Tehran, Levitt said, extending to “significant interpersonal relationships and familial relationships with people from Iran and Lebanon, marrying into each other’s families.”
Iran’s relationship with its other proxies such as the Houthis, while militarily valuable, is less close in ideological terms. The Yemeni militia group follows the Zaydi sect of Shiism distinct from the Twelver Shiite sect which dominates Iran.
“In contrast to Hezbollah, the Houthis were not created by Iran,” said April Alley, senior fellow at the Washington Institute. “They continue to maintain decision-making space, even as they openly participate in joint military operations as part of Iran’s axis of resistance.”
To be sure, the Houthis are gaining geostrategic importance for Iran, especially from their influence over the Bab el-Mandeb maritime strait connecting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
But despite those military ties, Alley said, “[Iran’s] relationship with the Houthis will always be shaped and limited by the social and political context in which the Houthis function—one that is not a natural habitat for Twelver Shiism or Iranian influence,” Alley said.
For Iran, Hezbollah remains their most important ally, and it appears poised to put the militia’s fate at the center of the Middle East’s future as it negotiates the hard details of its peace agreement with Washington.
