1 Instute for the Study of War and AEI’s Crical Threats Project 2023
Iran Update, November 15, 2023
Brian Carter, Amin Soltani, Peter Mills, Kathryn Tyson,
Andie Parry and Johanna Moore
Information Cutoff: 2:00 pm EST
The Iran Update provides insights into Iranian and Iranian-sponsored activities abroad that
undermine regional stability and threaten US forces and interests. It also covers events and trends
that affect the stability and decision-making of the Iranian regime. The Critical Threats Project
(CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) provides
these updates regularly based on regional events. For more on developments in Iran and the region,
see our interactive map of Iran and the Middle East.
Note: CTP and ISW have refocused the update to cover the Israel-Hamas war. The new sections
address developments in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria, as well as noteworthy
activity from Iran’s Axis of Resistance. We do not report in detail on war crimes because these
activities are well-covered in Western media and do not directly affect the military operations we
are assessing and forecasting. We utterly condemn violations of the laws of armed conflict and the
Geneva Conventions and crimes against humanity even though we do not describe them in these
reports.
Click here to see CTP and ISW’s interactive map of Israeli ground operations. This map is updated
daily alongside the static maps present in this report.
Key Takeaways:
1. Israeli forces conducted a reconnaissance operation into the al Shifa Hospital complex on
November 14-15 to obtain information about the Hamas tunnel network Israel says is
under the complex.
2. Qatari mediators continued efforts to facilitate an agreement between Hamas and Israel to
release 50 civilian hostages in return for a three-day ceasefire.
3. Palestinian militia fighters conducted 14 attacks on Israeli security forces in the West Bank
on November 15.
4. Iranian-backed militants, including Lebanese Hezbollah (LH), conducted 9 cross-border
attacks into northern Israel on November 15.
5. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq—a coalition of Iranian-backed Iraqi proxies—claimed one
attack on a US base in Iraq.
6. Western media reported that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei complained that Hamas did
not warn Iran about its October 7 attack during his meeting with Hamas Political Bureau
Head Esmail Haniyeh in Tehran on November 5, citing Iranian and Hamas officials.
