The logistical and financial infrastructure that supports armed groups allied to Tehran faces its biggest test of survival after the escalation of direct clashes with the United States and Israel in 2026
The Axis of Resistance is a decentralized political and military alliance led by the Islamic Republic of Iran designed to consolidate Iranian influence in the Middle East and counter the presence of the United States and Israel in the region. The coalition encompasses allied governments and a complex network of armed groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and Hamas in the Palestinian territories. In March 2026, understanding who finances groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis and how they operate in the war as allies of Iran has become urgent: the region has entered open war after a massive offensive by Washington and Tel Aviv that resulted in the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In retaliation, Tehran blocked the Strait of Hormuz and ordered militias under its command to launch coordinated attacks.
The genesis of the anti-Western alliance and forward defense strategy
The foundations of the Axis of Resistance were established after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, when Iran adopted a state doctrine of opposition to foreign influence and expansion of Shiite Islam. The vulnerability faced during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) led the Iranian regime to formulate an “advanced defense” strategy, the principle of which is to fight enemies outside Iran’s own borders through proxy wars.
The first and most successful experience of this policy occurred in 1982, during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, when Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps helped found and structure Hezbollah. Over the decades, the military export model expanded. Iran began training, arming, and subsidizing different militias in Syria, Iraq, and later insurgents in Yemen, forming a geographic arc of military deterrence that allowed Tehran to attack adversaries while maintaining a degree of plausible deniability.
The flow of capital, weapons and technology to the battlefronts
Funding and logistical support for the Axis of Resistance is operationalized by the Quds Force, the elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard responsible for extraterritorial operations. Instead of just transferring cash, the Iranian regime provides ballistics expertise, smuggling routes, oil and direct subsidies.
Hezbollah’s war economy
Hezbollah, considered the most powerful non-state military force in the world, functions as a direct extension of Tehran’s interests in the Mediterranean. Even under intense military pressure, estimates by American authorities at the end of 2025 indicated that the group continued to receive around US$60 million per month from Iran.
The financial structure of the Lebanese group transcends direct transfer and includes operations in a parallel financial system, such as the Al Qard al Hasan institution, frequently the target of Israeli bombings and restrictions by the Lebanese Central Bank. Logistics, however, suffered a severe logistical blow at the end of 2024. The collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria cut off the main land corridor that Iran used to transfer weapons and capital to Lebanese territory, isolating Hezbollah troops and weakening the flow of war.
The Houthis’ military equipment
Unlike Hezbollah, which operates on the Israeli border, the Houthi rebels (Ansar Allah movement) guarantee Iranian control at the entrance to the Red Sea. Iran has provided the Yemeni group with advanced technology for assembling suicide drones and anti-ship missiles. With low operating costs, the Houthis have paralyzed part of commercial maritime traffic in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from 2023, provoking direct military responses from the United States. In 2026, with the order to escalate from Tehran, the group resumed threats of continuous bombings to international shipping in the region.
The collapse of deterrence and open war in the Persian Gulf
The model of indirect conflict that sustained the Axis of Resistance for years definitively collapsed at the beginning of 2026. The escalation of war left the “shadow wars” plan to become a major confrontation between States.
- An operation coordinated by the US, under the presidency of Donald Trump, and Israel at the end of February 2026 targeted political institutions and infrastructure of the Iranian nuclear program.
- The attack culminated in the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, generating the full activation of regional militias.
- The Revolutionary Guard fired missiles at American bases located in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.
- Iran has actively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, forcing more than 150 oil tankers to anchor in the Persian Gulf, sparking panic in global energy markets.
- Hezbollah broke the ceasefire established in November 2024 and fired fleets of drones and missiles into Israeli territory.
The loss of the main political and spiritual leadership in Tehran pressured the Axis of Resistance structures to act simultaneously, transforming a system that served as a shield for Iran into a frontal attack network.
The weakening of international resolutions and the ineffectiveness of sanctions
The Iranian-funded military architecture has exposed the chronic limitations of UN resolution mechanisms and international law. In Lebanon, the systematic refusal to comply with Security Council resolutions demanding the disarmament of militias culminated in a serious internal conflict. In February 2026, the Lebanese government set a four-month timeline for the state army to take control of weapons in the strategic area between the Litani and Awali rivers. Hezbollah publicly rejected the measure, hollowing out the authority of the Lebanese state and precipitating the resumption of attacks against Israel the following month.
In the economic sphere, decades of Western embargoes led by Washington have failed to stop Iranian financial flows abroad. The regime used global smuggling networks, cryptocurrencies and the parallel foreign exchange market to circumvent international surveillance. However, the cost of military maintenance abroad generated internal unsustainability. The local currency (rial) melted to the historic mark of 1.5 million per dollar in 2026, and inflation above 70% provoked popular uprisings that have already resulted in thousands of deaths on the streets of Iran, exposing the bill charged to the population to pay for the activities of Hezbollah and the Houthis.
Faced with the assassination of its central leaders, an acute internal exchange rate strangulation and the soaring international price of oil and natural gas, the future of the government in Tehran became uncertain. With the shutdown of the Port of Jebel Ali, in Dubai, and the complete blockage of Persian Gulf routes, the confrontation is no longer a crisis restricted to the Levant. Without diplomatic space for quick retreats, countries hosting Iranian-funded militias face the imminent possibility of turning their territories into the main battlefield of a military and energy war with global impact.
