![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhJmt78hpYWh48RvPqCqQLBUep3tNOlkuobWTBjSAUiEnOl6xDUjzimGjJn3dkz6v0vEpA9dVt9PwGM50K3AGxvHdTtERxL19xjGo5sGUNeQYuPXBDW_X01J1SQ1NuBbuXOxMmdtWzyiZ_nw-T_IY4mt4yKBJ5F0Z5YJtis3T7ym6Tb2WT6pDIFECxlSoxE\/s1536\/ARTICLE%20375-%20MV%20IRAN%20CIA.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>In March 2016, I was watching Mark \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Ten years later, those thoughts feel <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>At <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Back then, I worried about what would <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>A decade ago, I also believed that if Iran <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>One of my bigger worries was unrest inside <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The hostility between the United States <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I also worried that groups like Hezbollah <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>That idea eventually found its way into my <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>A CIA team led by Corey Pearson is there <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The story is fictional, but the setup <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I also worried nuclear material might be <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I understood why Benjamin Netanyahu <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Looking back, the core tensions remain, <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>With the U.S. now at war with Iran, <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>What has changed most is the margin for <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Robert <\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Ten years after Iran\u2019s missile threats, the shadow war is no longer in the shadows. From nuclear fears and Hezbollah proxies to Israel, the U.S., and the widening Middle East conflict, the warning signs from 2016 feel more urgent than ever. \u00a0 \u00a0 In March 2016, I was watching Mark Dubowitz on C-SPAN\u2019s Washington … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantusintel.group\/osint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantusintel.group\/osint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantusintel.group\/osint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantusintel.group\/osint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantusintel.group\/osint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quantusintel.group\/osint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantusintel.group\/osint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantusintel.group\/osint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantusintel.group\/osint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantusintel.group\/osint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDubowitz on C-SPAN\u2019s <\/span>Washington Journal<\/i> as he discussed Iran launching
\ntwo long-range ballistic missiles. Each one carried the phrase \u201cIsrael must be
\nwiped out\u201d in Hebrew. What stuck with me wasn\u2019t just the message, but the
\ntiming. Vice President Biden was in Israel then. That mix of diplomacy and open
\nhostility got me thinking about where things could go if Iran ever backed that
\nposture with real nuclear capability.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ncloser.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe time, the launch felt deliberate, and that still holds. Iran has kept using
\nmissiles, drones, and proxy groups to send messages without tipping into
\nfull-scale war. What\u2019s changed is how constant it\u2019s become. Tension with Israel
\nisn\u2019t occasional anymore. It\u2019s a steady pressure point.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nhappen as the nuclear deal\u2019s limits expired. Instead, the deal came apart
\nsooner than expected when the United States withdrew in 2018 under Donald
\nTrump. Since then, Iran has enriched more uranium and cut back, then terminated
\ninspections. Now the question isn\u2019t about some future deadline. It\u2019s how close
\nIran may already be.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ncrossed a line, Israel might answer with a major strike. That fear is no longer
\ntheoretical. Israel and the United States are now at war with Iran, and strikes
\nhave killed senior Iranian leaders, including Ali Khamenei, while hitting
\nmilitary and nuclear-related sites. The shadow war has moved into the open.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nIran and how the regime might react if cornered. There have been serious
\nprotests, but the government has held on. Since Iran hasn\u2019t openly deployed
\nnuclear weapons, that fear hasn\u2019t played out. Still, instability in a country
\nclose to nuclear capability remains dangerous.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nand Iran hasn\u2019t just hardened. It has turned into war. The 2020 killing of
\nQasem Soleimani once seemed like the closest both sides had come to direct
\nconflict. Now decades of mistrust have moved from proxy fights into open
\ncombat.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nwere being underestimated. That concern still holds. Despite claims from Israel
\nand Trump that Hezbollah has been decimated, it would be a mistake to write it
\noff. It remains active, organized, and dangerous. What\u2019s changed is the reach
\nof Iran\u2019s network, which now works through allied groups across the region and
\nbeyond, something made clearer after the October 7 attacks.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nnovel Mission of Vengeance<\/a><\/i><\/b>.
\nIn the story, Russian operatives use Hezbollah-linked cells from South
\nAmerica\u2019s Tri-Border region as a proxy to attack a Caribbean summit on Cat
\nIsland in the Bahamas. The goal isn\u2019t just violence. It\u2019s instability.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nto stop a suicide bomber before she strikes. They succeed, but not cleanly. The
\nbomber detonates after being engaged, killing one team member and critically
\nwounding another. The leaders survive, but the cost is real. The point is
\nsimple: influence doesn\u2019t have to be direct to be effective.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nisn\u2019t far-fetched. Countries can use proxy networks far from home, which
\nreflects the indirect conflict we see more often now. It shows how easily the
\nlines blur.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ndiverted for a dirty bomb. That hasn\u2019t happened, at least not publicly.
\nInstead, conflict has shifted toward drones, missiles, and precision strikes,
\ntools that are easier to use and deny.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ndoubted the nuclear deal. Today, that doubt is more common. Trust is thin
\neverywhere. Meanwhile, the Abraham Accords reshaped part of the region,
\nbringing several Arab nations closer to Israel, partly over shared concerns
\nabout Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nbut the situation has changed. Trump\u2019s bombing of Iran\u2019s nuclear sites may have
\ndamaged the program, but it didn\u2019t answer the biggest question: what material
\nremains, where it is, and whether Iran is still quietly pursuing a weapon.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ndiplomacy has largely been pushed aside, even if Washington is still making
\nlimited attempts to revive it.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nerror. Ten years ago, these fears felt distant. Now they feel immediate, and
\nthe space between stability and escalation is much thinner.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nMorton <\/span><\/b>is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence
\nOfficers (AFIO) and writes about the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). He also
\nwrites the\u00a0Corey
\nPearson- CIA Spymaster Series<\/i><\/b><\/a>, which blends his knowledge of
\nreal-life intelligence operations with gripping fictional storytelling. His
\nwork offers readers an insider\u2019s glimpse into the world of espionage, inspired
\nby the complexities and high-stakes realities of the intelligence community.Top of Form<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n