Israel and Iran exchange first strikes since April:\u00a0<\/strong>For the last two months, the ceasefire between Israel and Iran had mostly held. Until this weekend, when it quickly unraveled. Now Iran is indicating its military campaign is over for now and that it’s ready to deescalate once again. (Who knows how true that\u00a0<\/em>is, of course.)<\/p>\n

“Iran fired waves of ballistic missiles at Israel on Sunday night in retaliation for an Israeli strike near the Lebanese capital, Beirut, against its ally Hezbollah,” reports<\/a> The New York Times. <\/em>“The Israeli military said on Monday morning that it had launched two waves of airstrikes across Iran, including against the country’s largest petrochemical complex<\/a>, prompting further Iranian missile attacks on central Israel.”<\/p>\n

The fact that Iran started striking Israel because of Israel’s actions against Hezbollah\u2014the terrorist group that has been firing on Israel<\/a> from southern Lebanon since October 2023, in what has been termed the “Gaza Support War”\u2014is of great significance; it shows a shift in how Iran is thinking about defense of its allies<\/p>\n

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“This is the first time in decades that a regional power has the means, capacity, and willingness to put hard power against Israeli military maneuvers or aggression against a <\/span>third<\/span> party,” writes<\/a> Iran scholar Trita Parsi on his Substack. The full post characterizes Israel’s actions as involving “genocide,” a characterization with which I disagree, for reasons David Bernstein outlines here<\/a>. But Parsi’s evaluation of the changing stakes is correct: Iran’s newfound willingness to strike Israel due to Israel’s strikes on Hezbollah signals that U.S. support of Israel may become costlier. It makes sense that President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been exchanging tense words<\/a> (and that Trump has been urging Bibi to hold off on attacking Iran, allowing a little more time for diplomacy<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

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The magnitude of what just happened may take some time to sink in.<\/p>\n

This is the first time Iran has struck Israel after Israel struck another country's territory (that is, not Iran).<\/p>\n

This means that the battle lines have been moved. <\/p>\n

Iran's deterrence had already been restored… pic.twitter.com\/KHpNjBTh97<\/a><\/p>\n

— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) June 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n