Algemeiner Editor-in-Chief Dovid Efune. Photo: Screenshot.

While heightened tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia over recent developments in Lebanon and Yemen have been the focus of the international community in the past few days, the Islamic Republic’s takeover of a wide swath of northern Iraq is being overlooked, the editor-in-chief of The Algemeiner said during an appearance on i24 News on Tuesday.

“Iran has very broad regional ambitions,” Dovid Efune told “Clearcut” program host Michelle Makori. “It wants to do what it takes to gain dominance and control over numerous states throughout the region.”

“Its preferred modus operandi is not to engage in all-out conflict with the larger powers in the region, that include Israel and…Saudi Arabia,” he explained. “It works through proxies, like the Houthis in Yemen, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, like the Hashd al-Shaabi in Iraq, which has now made incredible movements in the north and taken large pieces of land in the Kurdish region.”

“Frankly,” Efune continued, “the headlines that we’ve seen this week, which have drawn a lot of attention, because Saudi Arabia is speaking about it, and obviously there was the resignation of the Lebanese prime minister, which was quite dramatic, they pale in comparison to actions that Iran is taking on the ground in Iraq to gain control of territory.”

“What we have here is a situation of an empowered Iran, a strengthened Iran, on the march, and the Saudis and their allies in the region, which actually, on this issue, include Israel, would like to do everything they can to push back that belligerence,” he concluded.

Watch an excerpt of the interview below:

Headlines on #Saudi–#Iran standoff pale in comparison to #Iran‘s actions on the ground in #Iraq, @Efune tells @MichelleMakori pic.twitter.com/aOUZx7FNV3

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) November 8, 2017