Israel and Iran Enter Second Week of Conflict Amid Regional and Global Concerns

As the world watched in apprehension, the war between Israel and Iran in just the span of a week had upended years of uneasy stability, reinforcing the lesson that in the Middle East, the shadow of war is never far from the surface. The devastating human, economic, and political consequences were only beginning to unfold, with no end in sight and little confidence that the conflict would remain contained. Each action prompted a deadly reaction, and the machinery of war ground inexorably onward, fueled by long standing grievances and the extraordinary dangers of the modern geopolitical order.