How Israel Profits From the Iran War It Started
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- Iran has shifted retaliatory strikes away from Israel and US naval assets toward civilian infrastructure across Gulf states and Jordan, deliberately sparing Israeli territory to keep room open for talks with Washington.
- Hezbollah's March intervention on Iran's behalf drew a devastating Israeli response and a subsequent US-backed Lebanese prohibition on its military activities; the Houthis are now striking Saudi interests rather than US or Israeli targets.
- Iraq's US-backed government under newly installed Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi faces an end-of-September deadline to disarm pro-Iran factions or face punitive US economic measures, after Washington blocked Nouri al-Maliki's return to the premiership.
- Israel's Bank of Israel forecasts 4% economic growth in 2026 and 5.5% in 2027; the shekel has appreciated roughly 20% against the dollar and the Tel Aviv-35 Index keeps setting records.
- Google completed its $32 billion acquisition of Israeli cybersecurity startup Wiz in March, at the height of the war.
- Israeli defense exports hit $19.2 billion in 2025, up nearly 30% for a fifth consecutive record year, driven by missile and air defense systems whose live combat performance now serves as their marketing asset.
- Israeli gas output from the Leviathan and Tamar fields is on track to exceed 3 billion cubic feet per day, with surplus piped to Egypt for liquefaction and global sale at elevated prices.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Washington this week, with the author arguing the trip's likely goal is preserving the asymmetric distribution of war costs that has so favored Israel.
Why it matters: The cost asymmetry is stark and measurable: while Gulf civilians absorb Iranian strikes and Asian consumers pay for Strait of Hormuz disruption, Israel's shekel is up 20%, defense exports jumped 30% to $19.2 billion, and the four-decade Iranian proxy architecture that previously threatened Israel from multiple fronts is being dismantled — all without Iran's retaliatory fire reaching Israeli soil.
