
Episode 358: The Long Arm of Tehran: Proxies, Criminals and State-Backed Threats with Edmund Fitton-Brown
From The International Risk Podcast by Dominic Bowen
May 6, 2026 · 43 min
About this episode
Edmund Fitton-Brown discusses Iran's methods of projecting power through various networks and operations beyond its borders.
In this episode, we host Edmund Fitton-Brown to explore how Iran projects power beyond its borders through proxies, criminal networks, intelligence services, and deniable operations. Drawing on his experience as a former British Ambassador to Yemen and former senior United Nations expert on ISIS, al-Qaeda and the Taliban, Edmund explains why Iran’s external operations cannot be understood simply through the language of “sleeper cells” or conventional state espionage. We discuss why Iran’s thr...
People in this episode
Host: Dominic Bowen
Guest: Edmund Fitton-Brown
Topics covered
- Iran
- proxies
- criminal networks
- state-backed threats
- intelligence services
- foreign policy
Keywords
- Iran
- proxies
- criminal networks
- state threats
- intelligence
- foreign policy
- Edmund Fitton-Brown
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: United Nations, ISIS, al-Qaeda, the Taliban
Places: Iran, Yemen
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