NOS/ANP
NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 14:04
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Annabel van Gestel
editor Online
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Annabel van Gestel
editor Online
Israel and Iran are two superpowers in the Middle East that have been fighting each other for decades. The Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate at the beginning of this month and Iran’s retaliation last night have put that relationship under high tension. Yet it has not always been hatred and envy between the countries.
How did Iran and Israel go from cooperating partners to sworn enemies?
Allies
Iran was one of the first Islamic countries to recognize the State of Israel in 1950. The Shah, the Persian king, maintained close ties with the West at that time. “Israel was a Western stronghold in the Middle East,” explains Middle East expert Paul Aarts. “So those countries got along.”
The first break in that relationship occurred in 1979, when the revolution broke out in Iran and anti-Western sentiments gained the upper hand. However, according to Aarts, it is a misconception that the relationship between Iran and Israel completely cooled from that moment on. “Israel and Iran still had business relations until the early 1990s. Iran even supplied oil to Israel for a while.”
This only really changed when Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, was eliminated as a potential threat to Israel after his failed invasion of Kuwait in 1991, says Aarts. “Until then, Israel and Iran – as the only non-Arab countries in the Arab region – had a common enemy. Israel in particular needed Iran to curb the threat from Iraq. Only when that threat disappeared could the enmity against Iran become rampant, to where we are now.”
October 7
After the Hamas attack on October 7, relations between the two superpowers reached a new low. The war that has raged since then is not limited to a battle between Israel and Hamas. Other militias such as Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis in Yemen and groups in Iraq and Syria are also joining the fight. And they are all linked to Iran.
“Israel is very concerned that Iran is threatening Israel’s existence with its proxies in the region,” said strategic analyst and Iran expert Damon Golriz. According to him, there is also a larger, strategic power struggle between the countries behind the scenes: “Who plays the biggest role in the Middle East? Israel with the US as a major ally? Or Iran with its Shia proxies?”
Middle East expert Aarts warns not to blame all actions of those groups on Iran. “We know that some of these militias are indeed controlled from Iran, but for others it is difficult to prove. It is a simple and dangerous view to point directly to Iran when actions by those militias, such as Prime Minister Netanyahu likes to do.”
Divert attention from Gaza
According to Aarts, Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus at the beginning of this month was an attempt by Israel to divert attention from Gaza. “Gaza is a drama. Initially for the Gazans, but also for Israel. This attack was a provocation to have a larger military confrontation with Iran and hopefully involve the Americans.”
Defense specialist Peter Wijninga calls last night’s Iranian retaliation special. “It was an attack with more than 300 projectiles. Russia has never been able to carry out such a large attack on Ukraine.”
Israel has managed to intercept the majority of the drones and according to Wijninga, Iran did not expect anything different. “This was mainly a way for Iran to show what they have and what they are capable of. The big question is what Israel will do now, but it will first be played at a diplomatic level.”
Iran expert Golriz sees this differently. He calls Iran’s action one game changer. “Everything now depends on how the US acts. Israel will not stop there. And if Israel responds, it will be a heavier attack than what Iran did last night. President Biden can say: we will not go with Israel in an attack on Iran, but he has promised to defend Israel. And then we are faced with a whole new reality.”
Also watch this video about the relationship between the two countries:
The shadow war between Iran and Israel
