Iran’s second strike on Israeli soil with a barrage of missiles on October 1 marked a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between the two regional powers. After Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July and the more recent killings of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Beirut, Iran launched an overt, substantial, and direct attack against its sworn enemy. The Iran-Israel conflict now risks pushing the entire Middle East to the brink of a full regional war.

Regardless of whether that war takes place, the exchange of attacks by Iran and Israel has already led to a new regional power equation that will last far beyond this specific confrontation. Seven far-reaching strategic consequences of the Iran-Israel conflict have become discernible.