Within the next 48 hours, Israel could be attacked by Iran. According to CBS News, which cited senior US Army officials, Iran is getting ready to launch a simultaneous attack using dozens of missiles and more than 100 drones.
Officers from the American Army have traveled to Israel due to the extreme escalation of hostility between the two nations. America is attempting to mend fences by phoning Saudi Arabia and China.
All the same, Israel might have to fight two fronts at once if Iran retaliates.
How did the current state of affairs between Israel and Iran come about, and why are they getting ready for war? How did these two nations go from being friends to enemies? Discover the little-known tales of animosity and affection between Israel and Iran in this narrative.
Why are Iranian and Israeli fears of conflict being voiced at this time?
For a very long time, Israel and Iran have been engaged in a proxy war. But there has never been a direct, large-scale conflict between the two nations.
Iran is charged with frequently using groups like Hamas and Hezbollah to launch attacks against Israel or its embassy. In response to these attacks, Israel strikes back at Iranian targets as well as Hamas and Hezbollah.
This proxy war included an airstrike by the Israeli army on April 1, 2024, close to the Iranian Embassy in Syria. Thirteen individuals were killed in this, including two of Iran's senior army commanders. Iran has now pledged to exact revenge on Israel for this.
Iran recognized Israel as early as 1948. In the Middle East, Palestine was replaced in 1948 with the creation of the Jewish state of Israel. The majority of Middle Eastern Muslim nations declined to acknowledge Israel. Iran was the second Muslim country at the time, following Turkey, which had recognized it as a sovereign state in 1948.
It is stated that Iran and Israel have never publicly declared their friendship. All of this took place in the background. After an American intelligence operation installed its own puppet regime in Iran, the two became closer.
In actuality, the American spy service was attempting to overthrow an elected government in Iran on August 15, 1953, the day India was commemorating its sixth Republic Day. General Fazlullah Zahedi of the Iranian Army was doing this work.
Iranian President Mohammad Mossadegh was alerted as soon as the intelligence agencies informed him about this plot. Dozens of individuals who were getting ready to protest against the government were put under his direction. General Fazlollah Zahedi started leaving Iran as soon as the Iranian army began detaining the demonstrators.
On August 18, 1953, three days after this occurrence, the American spy organization CIA delivered a communication to one of its officers in Iran. It stated, "Our operation against the President of Iran was unsuccessful." We should now refrain from doing any such operations.
There were now two alternatives available to the CIA officers who were in Iran. After saving their lives, they ought to either head back or get ready for the next operation to overthrow the Iranian regime.
Kermit Roosevelt, the highest-ranking CIA officer in Iran, disregarded the US government's directive. He began getting ready for the upcoming Operation Ajax.
The American intelligence agency assembled a sizable group of mercenaries in Tehran on August 19, according to an article published in Foreign Policy. These violent protestors were calling for the return of the monarchy to the nation. There, the royal family was behind him.
As a result, the elected administration was overthrown, and Mohammad Mossadegh was forced to resign as president of Iran. Shah Reza Pahlavi became the owner of Iranian authority. This was the first occasion in history that America overthrew an elected government abroad.
The American-installed puppet regime in Iran enjoyed cordial ties with Israel. Under the Shah's leadership, Iran used to be Israel's primary oil supplier. In contrast, several Arab nations had no diplomatic ties to Israel throughout this time. Iran was the third-most Jewish-populated country in the Middle East, after Israel and Turkey. There were roughly a million Jews in Iran.
Al Jazeera claims that because of their excellent ties, Israeli spy organization Mossad trained Iran's SAVAK espionage agency.
Then, how did Israel and Iran's animosity start?
The Islamic Revolution of 1979 is the response to this query. In actuality, Iran's King Shah Reza Pahlavi hosted a lavish celebration in his castle in 1978.
In addition to U.S. Vice President Sipro Agnew, prominent figures from several other nations, notably the Soviet Union, attended this celebration. Ayatollah Khomeini, the head of Iran's religious establishment, has denounced it as a party of Satan.
Khomeini began organizing the populace against this royal family party. He thought the Shah family made choices with America's best interests in mind. Iran saw the beginning of a movement against the Shah at Khomeini's request. The Iranian populace quickly joined this movement, and it eventually evolved into the Islamic Revolution.
It was noteworthy that Khomeini, the man responsible for initiating the massive uprising against the Shah family, was not present in Iran. In 1964, the Shah gave Khomeini the order to leave the country because he wanted to convert Iran into a Muslim country. He began the Islamic Revolution while residing in Iraq as a result.
In December 1978, over two million people gathered in Tehran's Shahyad Square to demonstrate against the Shah, according to a report by Aljazeera. The army declined to intervene against them upon observing the large number of people gathered around. Shah Reza Pahlavi was compelled to leave the nation as a result.
In April 1979, after his return, Khomeini proclaimed Iran to be an Islamic nation. Iran founded an Islamic state and imposed Sharia law under Khomeini's direction. Ayatollah Rohollah Khomeini's new Iranian government severed ties with Israel.
Khomeini had declared that Iran must battle America and its allies in his very first address back in the country. These nations will perpetrate crimes against Palestinian Muslims. Khomeini went on to say that Israel is the little devil and America is the big devil.
The two nations' citizens, who had been friends since 1948, were no longer able to travel to one another following the Islamic Revolution. There was no longer an aviation route between the two. The Palestinian embassy was relocated to Tehran from the Israeli embassy.
The purpose of the weaponry trade was profit, not hostility.
Iran was unexpectedly attacked by the army of Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein on September 22, 1980. Iran's Air Force is the target of the first attack. Following this, six Iraqi battalions advanced into Iran's Khuzestan region.
Iran was unprepared for this battle, having only emerged from the Islamic Revolution in 1979. As a result, in just two months, almost 2,000 Iranian soldiers lost their lives. As the situation deteriorated, Iran came under increasing pressure to acquire American weaponry as soon as possible.
The Washington Report, an American foreign policy publication, claims that Iran has only ever owned American and British armaments since the Shah era. They could only be operated by US machinery.
Iran, meanwhile, dispatched a delegation to Israel in October, where a covert agreement was struck. As a result, Iran acquired 250 tires for F-4 fighter jets and Scorpion tanks on October 24, 1980.
Many ships from Europe visited Iran's ports of Chabahar, Bandar Abbas, and Beshehar at this time. It is thought that these ships are equipped with missile systems and helicopters. The Israeli arms corporations sent these ships.
America quickly learned of this covert agreement between adversarial nations. Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, was leading the United States at the time.
Israel was instructed by the Carter Administration to cease arming Iran. But the American government shifted in a matter of months. America elected Ronald Reagan as its president.
During the Islamic Revolution, America rescued its people who were being held captive in Iran. Israel, meanwhile, got ready for the Reagan administration to support Iran. But nobody was permitted to know the slightest detail about this agreement between Iran, America, and Israel.
It was decided that the United States would ship weapons through Israel rather than directly to Iran. An American officer named Robert McFarlane was given charge of it. Israel was not happy with America's assistance to Iran, even though it was providing it.
The rationale was that the weapons America had authorized for Iran's purchase were insufficient to alter the direction of the conflict. Israel then dispatched its spies.
By establishing a fictitious corporation, Israeli spies gave Iran weaponry.
The American newspaper New York Times ran a story on March 8, 1982. It was alleged that the Israeli spy service was surreptitiously gathering armaments for Iran without notifying the United States.
The Times discovered 18-month arms bills of $100–200 billion. Israel was responsible for setting up more than half of these. The intelligence service of Israel had established a business on Wall Street. There were about fifty workers there.
Their task was to purchase American weaponry and resell it to Iran via fictitious businesses. In 1983, the corporation relocated from New York to London as soon as the news broke. Israel attacked Iraq and gave Iran weapons, a move that even the United States condemned.
The date of this incident was June 7, 1981. Iraq and Iran were now engaged in more intense combat. Then Menachem Begin, the prime minister of Israel, ordered many F-16 aircraft to destroy Iraq. Shortly after the bombardment began, a building in Baghdad was completely destroyed.
Iraq's nuclear research facility was located in this structure, according to the British media outlet BBC. The Israeli army claimed at the time that the bombing had closed the door on Iraq's "nuclear genie," yet this attack drew criticism from around the world.
In the UN, a resolution denouncing Israel's strike was presented. This proposition was even endorsed by America, a friend of Israel.
What was gained by Israel in assisting Iran? Numerous theories and anecdotes exist regarding Israel's assistance to Iran during the Iraqi conflict. Ronen Bergman, an Israeli journalist, stated that there were two causes for this.
Israel was establishing a market for its armaments sector.
The two countries' relations soured following the 1979 revolution. Israel sought to strengthen its ties with Iran by arming it during the conflict once more.
David Menashri of Tel Aviv University claims that not a single Israeli said anything about the threat posed by Iran during the 1980s. Iraq was one of the causes of this. Under Saddam Hussein's leadership, Iraq was growing more violent throughout this period. Additionally, there were rumors that Iraq was attempting to obtain nuclear weapons. Israel enlisted Iran's assistance in this regard to oppose Saddam.
On the other hand, Iran began developing nuclear weapons following the conflict with Iraq. It was made public in 2002. America was against this. Israel had begun to perceive Iran as a threat by this point as well. Israel will stop at nothing to prevent any Middle Eastern nation from possessing nuclear weapons. Since then, there has been a steady decline in relations between the two nations, which eventually led to hostility.
