Challenging A Great Power: Iran's Gray Zone Operations in the Middle East

Abstract

How effective have Iran's gray zone operations been at advancing its strategic objectives in the Middle East? This thesis analyzed both lethal and nonlethal gray zone operations, including Iranian proxy attacks, drone attacks, weapons testing, missile strikes, maritime attacks, cyber warfare, information operations, and economic coercion. The research found that, between 2017-2022, Iranian gray zone operations effectively advanced Iran's strategic objectives. However, the thesis concludes that Iranian gray zone operations were often ad hoc and a response to unfolding political and military events, rather than proactive in nature. Despite Iran's extensive gray zone operations, the United States and Israel remained the most powerful forces in the Middle East and Iran was unable to become the dominant power in the region.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2023
Accession Number
AD1213128

Entities

People

  • Shawn M. Bunting

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • Cyber
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Asymmetric Warfare
  • Cyber Warfare
  • Cyberattacks
  • Cybersecurity
  • Cyberspace Operations
  • Disinformation
  • Geography
  • Governments
  • Gray Zone
  • Improvised Explosive Devices
  • Information Warfare
  • Intelligence Community (United States)
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Naval Mines
  • Public Policy
  • Recreation
  • Social Media
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - UAVs
  • Cyber
  • Cyber - Legality in Cyberspace