Study says no state has been as effective as Iran in regional conflicts during the past decade [Reuters]
BBC: Iran's network of influence in Mid-East 'growing'
Iran is winning the strategic struggle for influence in the Middle East against its rival, Saudi Arabia, according to a study by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
Iran's regional rivals have spent billions of dollars on Western weaponry, much of it from the UK.
Yet for a fraction of that cost, sanctions-bound Iran has been able to successfully embed itself across the region into a position of strategic advantage.
It has a major influence - verging on a controlling influence in some cases - over the affairs of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
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Update: New report reveals extent of Iran's growing Middle East influence (Al Jazeera)
WNU Editor: The report is here .... "Iran's Networks of Influence in the Middle East (IISS).
