Iran expands it 'shadow empire' across Middle East as Trump pulls troops from Iraq, Syria

Just six months after the Trump administration announced plans to draw down U.S. forces in Syria, the Biden administration confirmed this week it will also reduce troop levels in Iraq under a new agreement - a move security experts warn could strengthen Iran and its "shadow empire."

"The relationship between Islamic Revolutionary Iran and Syria goes all the way back to the '80s. It's not something that just started with the advent of the Syrian civil war," Gregg Roman, Executive Director of the Middle East Forum, told Fox News Digital. "They took 40 years of relations and eventually turned that into an enterprise."

According to an investigative report compiled by the Middle East Forum, using on-the-ground sources embedded in Iranian military installations across Syria since 2018, Iran has not only constructed underground tunnels and weapons depots for its disposal. Tehran has embedded itself deeply into the everyday lives of Syrians through an integrated system that has blended military duties with civil programs.

"Perhaps most concerning is the precedent established by Iran's success in constructing this shadow empire," the report found. "The ability to build parallel military infrastructure, operate independently of host government control, and maintain strategic capabilities despite international scrutiny provides a template that could be replicated elsewhere in the region."

"The Iranians have a strategy in Iraq, and it's effective," Bill Roggio, expert terrorism analyst and senior editor of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' "Long War Journal," told Fox News Digital. "They're using military, political and economic means to achieve their goals, and their proximity to Iraq really helps them achieve that."

"They wield significant influence in the Iraqi government. They occupy a large, dominant block in the Iraqi parliament. And these militias also have economic power," Roggio said. "Iran built these militia forces along the same lines as Hezbollah, and they essentially want them to ultimately become like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is in Iran."

"We haven't learned the lessons of Afghanistan and even the lessons of Iraq," Roggio said. "I don't care if we have 100 or 100,000 troops in Afghanistan or anywhere else. Do we have the right troops to achieve the mission that we put out for them? 

"We talk about numbers of troops. … We're not really talking about what is our mission in Iraq? Is it a counter-ISIS mission? Is it a stave off Iranian influence mission? 

"And do we have the right mixture of military and diplomatic and political and economic influence in Iraq to achieve those goals? I don't believe we do."

Both experts pointed out that the U.S. has a long history of not taking Iran and the threat it poses seriously enough, a problem that has spanned decades across both Republican and Democratic administrations. 

"The Iranians are patient. They're operating on timeframes of decades and generations. And we aren't patient. We operate in timeframes and two and four-year election cycles," Roggio said. "Ultimately, Iran is looking to drive the U.S. from the region and expand its influence in neighboring countries, be it Afghanistan, be it Iraq, be it the Gulf states.

"The ultimate goal is to get the U.S. out so it can expand its influence."