Ever since the eight year-long Iran-Iraq war, the challenges facing the Islamic Republic of Iran have been nominal compared to the threats the latest crises in both Syria and Iraq posed. The ruling elite in Tehran saw the 2011 revolution in Syria and the fall of Iraq’s Mosul in 2014 as an existential threat that required direct intervention – although later this threat was transformed into an opportunity. In this article, the author argues that Iranian intervention in both countries proved to provide Iran with more leverage in the region, while at the same time maintaining its status as a regional power with international reach.