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

Throughout Iran, the leadership sought to frame the war as both a defensive struggle and a chance to unite the nation against foreign aggression. State media broadcast images of casualties and destruction in Tehran and coastal cities such as Bandar Abbas, showing destroyed buildings and lines of volunteers. Iran’s deeply contentious internal politics appeared to recede, at least for the moment, in the face of outside attack. Meanwhile, its government called upon Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria to increase their operations against American and Israeli targets, hoping to stretch Israeli resources and open new fronts in the conflict.