Iran Plotted Wider War With Help of Its Proxies

The attacks are part of what two senior Iranian officials depicted as a step-by-step plan, devised in secret during a fleeting cease-fire this spring, that would use Iran’s allies to escalate attacks if the United States intensified its assaults. The goal, the officials said, was to make the war as costly as possible for President Trump.

Mahdi Mohammadi, a senior adviser to Iran’s chief negotiator, even crowed on social media about the strategy with the proxy forces, which are known in the region as the “Axis of Resistance.”

“The rules of the conflict are changing and being rewritten, we are creating new conditions and platforms in the war,” Mr. Mohammadi said. “The fronts are multiplying from different directions in the region; they are of course coordinated but act independently. A new axis of resistance is emerging with new players.”