Washington 18 March 2026 #1

18 March 2026

The U.S. intelligence community’s 2026 Annual Threat Assessment noted that “Iran and Iranian-aligned terrorist actors – including Hamas and Lebanese Hizbollah – have been severely degraded… Nevertheless, these groups remain capable of asymmetrically attacking U.S. interests and our allies in the Middle East, and continue to spread Islamist propaganda to incite terrorist acts". The assessment also found that “Iran’s strategic position faces extreme
challenges as it attempts to address potentially regime-threatening conflict and the ongoing risk of domestic unrest. For now, it retains the ability to project power in the region and to suppress internal threats to the regime’s hold on power”.