Iran Update, March 5, 2025
Katherine Wells, Johanna Moore, Kelly Campa, Carolyn Moorman, Siddhant Kishore, Annika Ganzeveld, Alexis Thomas, Faris Almaari, George Ekmekjian, and Brian Carter
Information Cutoff: 2:00 pm ET
The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) publish the Iran Update, which provides insights into Iranian and Iranian-sponsored activities that undermine regional stability and threaten US forces and interests. CTP-ISW publishes the Iran Update every weekday.
Click here to see CTP and ISW’s interactive map of Israeli ground operations, and here to see CTP and ISW’s interactive map of the ongoing opposition offensive in Syria. These maps are updated daily alongside the static maps present in this report.
We do not report in detail on war crimes because these activities are well-covered in Western media and do not directly affect the military operations we are assessing and forecasting. We utterly condemn violations of the laws of armed conflict and the Geneva Conventions and crimes against humanity even though we do not describe them in these reports.
US sanctions on Houthi officials for coordinating with Russia demonstrate how Russia facilitates Iranian-backed groups’ terrorism in the Middle East. The United States designated the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization and sanctioned eight Houthi officials for facilitating attacks on international shipping and for recruiting Yemenis to fight for Russia in Ukraine.[1] Houthi officials threatened unspecified military actions in response to US sanctions.[2] Russia has both provided intelligence for attacks on international shipping and attempted to recruit Yemenis to fight in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Western reporting.[3] The US Treasury stated that Russia and China colluded with the Houthis to ensure that the Houthis would not attack Russian and Chinese-flagged vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.[4] The Kremlin reportedly provided targeting intelligence to the Houthis to support attacks on US and international vessels. This activity, which includes the provision of intelligence to the Houthis that could improve the Houthis’ ability to damage US or international vessels and kill US Navy sailors or third country merchant mariners, demonstrates how Russia seeks to undermine US interests in the Middle East. Russia, given its role supporting Iranian-backed Houthi campaigns in the Middle East, would not help secure US interests in the Middle East as a mediator between the United States and Iran.[5]
Interim government forces engaged a militia consisting of former pro-Assad fighters on February 5 in al Sanamayn, north of Daraa.[6] Anti-Assad media said that a militia led by Mohsen al Haymed killed two interim government security personnel in al Sanamayn, which caused the interim government to deploy forces to al Sanamayn in response[7] Haymed’s faction has operated in al Sanamayn since at least 2018 when the group reconciled with the Assad regime and began collaboratin...
[Short citation of 8% of the original article]