Even as the world’s attention has been focussed on the Israel-Hamas war, the broader regional conflict between the United States (US) and Iran has escalated to dangerous levels and carries significant global geopolitical lessons. The cycle of drone, missile and air strikes between the US and Iran’s proxy militias in Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Yemen raises the risk of America once again getting entangled in the maelstrom of West Asia and losing focus on countering China’s expansionism in the Indo-Pacific