Hamas' October 7 terrorist attack on Israel sparked the bloodiest war ever on Palestinian territory and opened a Pandora's box of more violence in the Middle East. Battle fronts have opened on the border between Israel and Lebanon, where the terrorist group Hezbollah operates, and in the Red Sea, where Houthi rebels attack ships and are bombed by the US. Attacks on militant groups have also been reported in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan. And the link between all conflicts is Iran, a country controlled by Shiite ayatollahs that invests heavily in its war machine and supports armed groups in its sphere of influence. To explain how the Iranian government exerts its tentacles across the region and the risks of these conflicts reaching global proportions, Natuza Nery interviews Vitelio Brustolin, Professor of International Relations at the UFF and Associate Professor at Columbia University (USA ) and researchers from Harvard Law School. In this episode:
- Vitelio states that the war between Israel and Hamas has already spread throughout the region and is even affecting Europe and the United States, where there was a high alert against terrorist attacks. “Hamas' strategy will prove effective as terror tactics spread around the world,” he estimates;
- He comments on Iran's geopolitical agenda, which funds Shiite parties and militias in neighboring countries and opposes Sunni armed groups such as the Taliban and the Islamic State. And it describes the military might of Iran's armed forces which is close to having enough technology to build a nuclear warhead;
- Vitelo explains how the Houthi rebels stationed in Yemen operate: “They control the entrance to the Red Sea, through which 12% of world trade passes.” And how the group's attacks on ships are used by Iran as a bargaining chip. “It shows the use of international terrorism as a foreign policy tool,” he says;
- The professor talks about his concern about the multiplication of conflicts that “could lead to a larger war that would trigger a third world war.”
Experts believe that the war in the Middle East has expanded and could become global
Expert Comments on Iran's Firepower in the Middle East
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The O Assunto podcast is produced by: Mônica Mariotti, Amanda Polato, Carol Lorencetti, Gabriel de Campos, Luiz Felipe Silva and Thiago Kaczuroski. Collaborated on this episode: Sarah Resende.