What I am clumsily trying to get you to contemplate...is the lack of real difference between a ‘proxy’ and a ‘state actor’.
Perhaps, but I think you just misread or didn’t understand the OPs distinction, and have been digging the hole deeper since.
Iran is backing the sh’ias in Yemen to make things uncomfortable for the Saudis. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Saudis got pissed off enough at Iran to act as our proxies?