A couple of belligerent nations and their 50-year-long proxy war… One can describe the relationship between Iran and Israel in this fashion. Although the Islamic Republic has always warned the Jewish Nation of a military warfare, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Israel from its soil on April 13, 2024 in a rare first. This unprecedented attack came as a response to an Israeli raid on an Iranian Consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus a couple of weeks ago. Tehran has claimed that it launched the attack only for self-defence.

The relations between Iran and Israel can be divided into four phases. The two countries maintained normal ties from 1947 to 1953. The bilateral ties were quite cordial from 1953 to 1979 (during the rule of the Pahlavi Dynasty (1925-1979)). The Islamic Revolution took place in Iran in 1979, triggering the fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty. The relationship between the two countries started deteriorating after the change in political leadership in Tehran, and touched a new low during the 1991 Gulf War.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (commonly referred to in the Western World as Mohammad Reza Shah; October 26, 1919 – July 27, 1980), the last Monarch of Iran, used to maintain friendly ties with the US. The scenario changed completely after the Islamic Revolution, as Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (May 17, 1900/September 24, 1902 – June 3, 1989), the first Supreme Leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989, referred to the US as the Great Satan (and the erstwhile Soviet Union as the Lesser Satan)! As Israel has always been considered as a friend of the US, Khomeini reportedly described the Jewish State as a Small Satan.

According to historians, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini did not like Shah’s policy to maintain friendly ties with Israel and the US. In 1979, Iran snapped ties with both of them. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini further claimed that Israel and the US joined hands to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme! Israel, too, got engaged in a verbal war with Iran and emerged as the Islamic Republic’s No 1 regional enemy.

Interestingly, Iran and Israel never got involved in a military warfare against each other, in spite of their antagonistic relationships! However, the Armed Forces of the two countries clashed in Syria and Lebanon that gradually came to be known as the Proxy War. Israel has always claimed that Iran backs Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group (led since 1992 by its Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah). Hezbollah is also an ally of the Palestinian Hamas Movement.

When Israel launched airstrikes in Syria from the Golan Heights in January 2015, Iran provided Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with all sorts of support to counter the Israeli Forces. After the Israel-Hamas War began on October 7, 2023, Tel Aviv claimed that Iran tried to destabilise Israel with the help of Hezbollah. Israel also destroyed several bases of the Iranian Army in Syria.

On April 1, 2014, an Israeli airstrike destroyed the Iranian Consulate in Damascus and killed two senior Iranian generals, among others; prompting Tehran to hit back strongly. Now, the ball is in Israel’s court. Although US President Joseph Robinette Biden (Jr) has announced that he shall protect Israel from Iran, he has also advised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu not to start a war with the Islamic Republic.

Like other world leaders, President Biden is well aware of the fact that any misjudgement or miscalculation by Israel would only widen the ongoing crisis in West Asia. Iran is not Iraq… Hence, it would not be possible for the US to invade the Islamic Republic. In that case, Russia and China shall certainly join hands with Iran. Such a scenario could even lead to the Third World War!

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das