The “New ISIS” in Iran? — When the War Changes Form
Sistan & Baluchistan, Iran
A new video released by Jaish al-Adl — a militant group active in southeastern Iran — reportedly calls for “jihad” against the Iranian state.
The footage is more than propaganda. It raises a broader strategic question: what happens when a conventional war fails to achieve its objectives?
The United States and Israel have repeatedly relied on a familiar playbook across West Asia: when direct military pressure fails, the battlefield can shift toward proxy warfare, terrorism, sectarian mobilization and insurgency.
Iraq. Syria. Afghanistan. Libya.
The names have changed. The mechanism has not.
ISIS and al-Qaeda did not emerge in a political vacuum. Their rise was facilitated by wars, state collapse, foreign intervention, intelligence operations, weapons flows and regional power struggles. That history should make every new militant mobilization in the region worthy of serious scrutiny.
Now, after the failure to defeat Iran through direct military confrontation, are we witnessing the beginning of another phase?
Destabilization from Within.
The new Jaish al-Adl video reportedly comes from Sistan & Baluchistan, while the armed spokesman appears to be carrying a Bulgarian-made Arsenal AR-pattern assault rifle.
The weapon itself does not prove foreign sponsorship. That distinction matters. But it raises legitimate questions about the sources of weapons, financing, training and logistical support available to armed groups operating inside Iran.
And the strategic question is even bigger:
If Iran could not be brought to its knees through missiles and airstrikes, will Washington and its allies attempt to bleed it through insurgency and terrorism instead?
Iran is now facing a potentially familiar formula:
External military pressure + internal destabilization + proxy warfare + information warfare.
The battlefield may have changed.