That’s fair — Feb 24, 2022 was a massive rupture in the European security order.
The argument for this being as important (or more) is different though.
Russia launched a conventional invasion to redraw borders.
The regime in Tehran has spent nearly five decades exporting violence through proxies — Hezbollah, Hamas, militias in Iraq, Syria, Yemen — destabilizing multiple regions simultaneously while avoiding direct accountability. It’s been a long-running asymmetric war, not a single event.
If this moment marks a direct confrontation with that system, it’s not a regional flare-up. It’s potentially the first real attempt to confront a state that’s institutionalized proxy terrorism as a core strategy.
Different kind of challenge. Possibly broader consequences.
