Lots of leverage through armed proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria and so on. They can exact a price from any

Lots of leverage through armed proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria and so on. They can exact a price from anyone in the Middle East, and interfere with the global energy market (like their cruise missile attack on Aramco or sabotaging and kidnapping tankers in the Persian Gulf). It makes dealing with them quite geopolitically expensive and a nuisance.