MANAMA, Nov. 23 -- While the conventional military balance remains heavily in favour of the US and its allies, Iran has tipped the balance of effective force in the Middle East to its advantage.

"Iran has done this by developing a sovereign capability to conduct warfare through third parties. Iran contests and wins wars 'fought amongst the people', not wars between states. It avoids symmetrical state-on-state conflict, knowing it will be outgunned. Instead, it pursues asymmetrical warfare through non-state partners," Dr John Chipman CMG, Director-General and Chief Executive, IISS, said.

In his opening remarks on Friday, at Ritz-Carlton, IISS Manama Dialogue 2019 Dr Chipman said Iran's influence operations that have had the greatest stra...