{"id":152573,"date":"2026-06-09T15:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/152573\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T15:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:52:21","slug":"iran-seeks-new-regional-norm-with-strikes-on-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/152573\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran seeks new regional norm with strikes on Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran appears to have ended its ballistic-missile attacks against Israel<\/a>. The regime\u2019s airstrikes came two days after it chose to target Israel in response to its operations in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Iran was signaling that in addition to using Lebanon<\/a> as a bargaining chip in talks with the US, it also wants to set down new lines of deterrence against Israel.<\/p>\n

Israeli officials have said Jerusalem will not permit this to happen, and that Iran won\u2019t be allowed to change the \u201cequation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question now is whether Iran<\/a> will continue to conduct these types of \u201ctit-for-tat\u201d responses and whether this becomes the new normal.<\/p>\n

Iran already did this when it attacked Israel with large numbers of ballistic missiles and drones in April and October 2024, essentially breaking a kind of glass ceiling, or regional norm.<\/p>\n

In each case, Iran claimed to be responding to Israeli actions. It said Israel had attacked a diplomatic building linked to Iran in Damascus, and that it was angry over the elimination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the summer of 2024.<\/p>\n

Iran strives to carve out new norm<\/p>\n

The real story was that Tehran wanted to carve out this new norm \u2013 attacking when it wants and setting new escalation rules in the region. This was supposed to shift the balance of power in Iran\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n

\"PartPart of an Iranian ballistic missile is seen in the desert near Vered Yeriho in the West Bank after being fired toward Israel from Iran, June 8, 2026. (credit: CHAIM GOLDBERG\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

Tehran had done this before with missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia\u2019s Abqaiq oil facility in 2019. It was now testing to see what kind of response it would get by striking Israel.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> this week said Iran would not be allowed to rewrite this equation.<\/p>\n

\u201cA year ago, we launched a historic preemptive strike against Iran\u2019s intention to destroy us with atomic bombs,\u201d he said. \u201cWe thwarted this immediate threat, and we also eliminated the tyrant [supreme leader Ali] Khamenei.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith that same determination, we acted against Hezbollah as well,\u201d Netanyahu said. \u201cHezbollah planned to invade the Galilee with thousands of terrorists, and at the same time, it planned to devastate Israel\u2019s cities with 150,000 missiles and rockets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIran and Hezbollah are weaker than ever, and we are stronger than ever,\u201d he said. \u201cBut our battle against them is still not finished. In the last 24 hours, Iran and Hezbollah tried to impose a new equation upon us, and it is an equation I find intolerable and unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey thought they would fire at Israel from Lebanese territory and from Iran, and we would not act,\u201d Netanyahu said. \u201cThat did not happen, and it will not happen… After Iran attacked Israel, I instructed the IDF to attack military and economic targets throughout Iran. We did that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Israel is now \u201cholding fire,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cin the event that the terrorist regime in Iran makes the mistake of resuming attacks on us, we will respond with overwhelming force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran shows willingness to attack across region<\/p>\n

The question is whether his statement will reverberate throughout Iran and the region and make Tehran realize it can no longer lob missiles at Israel.<\/p>\n

In recent months, Iran has shown that it is willing to carry out attacks all over the region. This has created a 4,800-kilometer front line from Lebanon to Iraq and the Gulf, as well as to Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthis are. The Houthis joined the Iranian attacks this week and do not appear to be deterred.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s goal is to up the ante in the region, and it feels it can do whatever it wants whenever it wants. It already has been doing this for more than 45 years, but it now feels emboldened.<\/p>\n

Even though Israeli officials claim Iran is weakened, sometimes even a weakened country, or one that feels cornered, may lash out. Tehran is clearly trying to prevent a sense in Washington or Jerusalem that the regime will fall.<\/p>\n

It wants to show that any action will lead to a reaction. Iran\u2019s objective is to establish deterrence and also to carve out \u201credlines\u201d across the region, indicating where it will still defend its proxies, such as Hezbollah. Iran does not want them removed or dismantled.<\/p>\n

The coming months and years will reveal whether this week\u2019s tit-for-tat escalation was a one-time event or whether this becomes the new normal. Since 2024, it has appeared to be a kind of new normal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran appears to have ended its ballistic-missile attacks against Israel. The regime\u2019s airstrikes came two days after it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[41,34,905,5469,37],"class_list":["post-152573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-iran","tag-iran-missiles","tag-iranian-missile-attacks","tag-israel"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116720955802852361","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}