IntelBrief: Washington Struggles to Stem the Slide Toward Regional War

Bottom Line Up Front

• Washington appears to be failing in its core goal of limiting the expansion of the Israel-Hamas war, with all of Tehran’s proxies highly active in the region.
• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s January trip through the Middle East, as well as other high-level U.S. diplomacy, has achieved no de-escalation of any of the region’s interconnected conflicts.
• U.S. retaliatory attacks have thus far failed to deter pro-Iranian armed factions from attacks on U.S. military assets and personnel, diplomatic facilities, and commercial shipping.
• Washington has been unable to persuade Israel’s government to back U.S. proposals for post-war governance in Gaza or a broader Israeli-Palestinian settlement.