The Pentagon has called Iran the central threat to the stability of the region, saying the top priority of CENTCOM is to deter the Tehran's malign activities.

CENTCOM Commander Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie told the Middle East Instituteon Thursday that “Iran relies on proxies to do its dirty work funneling them arms and other resources with the expressed purpose of sowing discord and endangering human life”.

McKenzie said following the US strike that killed the IRGC’s Qods (Quds) commander Qasem Soleimani, “Iran largely confined itself to activities beneath what it perceives as the threshold of our forbearance, yet in so doing it has inflicted unnecessary suffering on its own citizens and those of its neighbors, all at the cost of innocent life and the risk of a devastating broader conflict.”

However, the Iran-aligned militia are more reckless now because the new Qods commander “does not exercise the same degree of control over them that Soleimani enjoyed”, increasing rogue and violent actions.

Following parliamentary elections in Iraq last October when Iran-backed politicians did not perform well, their militia supporters used violence to influence the formation of a new government, McKenzie argued.

He added that the conflict in Yemen has lasted so long only because of Iran’s support for the Houthis, noting that “the Houthis are less interested than Iran in waging a limited war.” Rather they recklessly use whatever the Iranians put at their disposal in pursuit of victory regardless of the risk to human life.