Iran today is facing the onslaught of the Israeli forces backed by the American military power.

The Iranian Supreme leader along with many top tier military commanders have been killed by the Israeli and American joint actions. Iran and Israel have been bitter enemies for the past few decades with Iran declaring it wants to wipe Israel off the face of the map and threatening to annihilate it on the other hand Israel regards Iran as its biggest adversary. In the Arab Israel conflict since 1948 the frontline states have been Egypt, Jordan and Syria but today Egypt and Jordan both have diplomatic relations with Israel and there appears to be the end of their conflict and now it leaves Iran only to confront Israel on the question of Palestine.

Israel and Iran enjoyed very cordial relations and were allies until the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. Iran was one of the very first countries to recognize Israel after its foundation in 1948 and Israel recognized Iran as an ally against the Arab statesand Iran welcomed US-backed Israel as a counter weight to the region’s Arab countries. In the decades of the 50s and 60s Israel trained Iranian agricultural experts, supplied technical know-how and helped build up and train the Iranian armed forces. The Iranian shah paid Israel in oil, as its burgeoning economy was in need of fuel. In those days Iran was hometo the second largest Jewish community outside of Israel. After the Islamic revolution thousands of Jews left Iran but today almost 20000 Jews still live in Iran. After the Iranian Islamic revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took control of the country and launched a fierce criticism of Israel for its occupation of Palestinian lands.Gradually, Iran adopted an increasingly harsh rhetoric toward Israel with the aim of winning the favor of regional Arab states, or their citizens at the very least. The Iranian regime, after all, was eager to grow its regional influence. In 1982 Israel intervened in the conflict in Lebanon by sending in its army and Imam Khomeini sent in the Iranian revolutionary guards to Beirut the Lebanese capital to support the local Shiite militias. The Hezbollah militia grew out of this support and today it is regarded as an Iranian proxy in Lebanon.

Iran-Israel relations have shifted from a, strategic, “covert alliance” before 1979 to profound,,, hostile,,, open, enmity, driven by ideological, regional, and nuclear, competition,. The 1979 Islamic Revolution transformed Iran from a close ally to an, existential, opponent, that denies Israel’s legitimacy. Both nations now engage in a continuous, proxy, war.Iran’s previous leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had the final say in all matters, remained just as antagonistic toward Israel as his predecessors. Khamenei and the entire Iranian leadership have also repeatedly questioned and denied the Holocaust.Not all ordinary Iranians support Iran’s hostility toward Israel.

“Iran must reassess its relationship with Israel because its stance is no longer in keeping with the times,” said Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, the daughter of former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in a 2021 interview. Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, who once held a seat in Iran’s parliament, said Muslim Uyghurs are oppressed in China and Chechen Muslims in Russia — and yet “Iran has close relations with both.”Prominent political scientist Sadegh Zibakalam has repeatedly criticized Iran’s policy toward Israel. “This stance has isolated the country on the international stage,” Zibakalam said in a 2022 interview with DW. Staunch backers of Iran’s Islamic Republic, however, support the country’s hostile position against Israel and are keen to see it oppose the great powers.Some Iranian regime supporters and members of the so-called Axis of Resistance have been irritated by Iran’s long reluctance to attack Israel in the context of the Gaza war or avenge attacks on Iran itself, analyst Ali Fathollah-Nejad said in April 2024. The director of the Berlin-based Center for Middle East and Global Order think tank explained that frustration was growing over “Iran’s lack of credibility as the main champion of the Palestinian cause and its hesitance to confront Israel directly.”

Under the Pahlavi dynasty, which ruled from 1925 until it was overthrown in the 1979 revolution, ties between Iran and Israel were anything but hostile. Iran was, in fact, the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel after it was founded in 1948. Iran was one of the 11 members of the special United Nations committee that was formed in 1947 to devise a solution for Palestine after British control of the territory ended. It was one of three to vote against the UN’s partition plan for Palestine, centered on concerns that it would escalate violence in the region for generations to come. Israel established a de facto embassy in Tehran, and eventually they exchanged ambassadors in the 1970s. Trade ties grew, and soon Iran became a major oil provider for Israel, with the two establishing a pipeline aimed at sending Iranian oil to Israel and then Europe.Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, brought about a new worldview that predominantly championed Islam and argued for standing up to “arrogant” world powers and their regional allies, who would oppress others – including Palestinians – to serve their own interests. This meant that Israel became known in Iran as the “Little Satan” to the “Great Satan” that is the US. Tehran cut off all ties with Israel; citizens could no longer travel and flight routes were cancelled; and the Israeli embassy in Tehran was transformed into the Palestinian embassy. Today Iran and Israel are bitter arch enemies and the present conflict in the region is now in its second week with the mighty juggernaut of the American and Israeli air armada hitting Iran with everything they have got and there appears to be no end to the present conflict.

—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.

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