Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

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Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Iran and Israel weren’t always enemies. In fact, they were allies

Israel even helped source American defence equipment for Iran, who learnt from Tel Aviv about drones against Soviet air defences in Syria.

The war in the Gulf has entered its fourth week today. But the forces that are fighting each other were not always in conflict, although it is alluring to think of the current war as inescapable between irreconcilable national projects.

All geopolitics is complex, and its history is heartbreaking. Regions exist in a world created by their inherited state of brokenness, the trauma of dealing with violence and the undying desire to strive for a higher ideal while protecting their interests. Looking back at history—if you still read books—you can almost feel the Zeitgeist staring back at you.

Step back, for once, from the Strait of Hormuz tensions, Iran’s drone strikes on Gulf infrastructure, the parallel war near Israel’s border with Lebanon, a powerful yet unpredictable US and the whole world stressed about energy prices.

There was a time, not long ago, when Iran and Israel were partners, finding mutual benefit in cooperation. Israel even helped source American defence equipment for Iran, who learnt from Tel Aviv about drones against Soviet air defences in Syria.

The story that follows now seems to belong to another universe, but I’ll unwind it, showing how cooperation, competition, rivalry, national interest, ideology, and oil have rewritten the texture of war—all emanating from one Original Sin—the promise of Palestinian statehood. No, don’t give up on it right away. Palestine might never have a state, yet its quest has been used, abused and exploited by everyone in the Gulf and the Levant—Arab monarchies, to the Ba’athists, to the Muslim Brotherhood—and by Israel itself. We need a starting point to come back to the present. Let’s begin with the 1970s. In the 1970s, the world looked different. Mossad (and the West) trained SAVAK (Shah’s feared intelligence service). In Tehran, lived the largest Jewish community in the Middle East. Jews looked upon the Persian kings as saviours and Iran—the only major non-Arab state in the Middle East—had close ties with the US, something like today’s strategic partnerships. Then came the 1979  Iranian Revolution, and the Shah fled. Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days.........

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