Before being arch enemies, Iran and Israel were allies. What changed?

Israel and the United States launched airstrikes against Iran on Saturday (February 28) under “Operation Epic Fury” after weeks of US military build-up in the region. The attacks came as the US and Iran were negotiating an agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme in Geneva. For long, Israel has been critical of the terms of similar deals intended to improve the West’s relations with Iran, pushing for greater restrictions on the country and utilising its deep ties with the United States to that end. It has described the Iranian regime as an existential threat, and for decades, the countries have sought to target one other, including direct conflict in recent years. Following the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, concerns about a wider regional conflict in the Middle East have been heightened, with the rivals at the centre of it. However, the Iran-Israel relationship has not always been as hostile as it is today. Iran was one of the first countries in the region to recognise Israel after its formation in 1948. It was only after 1979 that their ties soured. Here is a brief history. > Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dead, Iranian media confirms: The life and beliefs of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dead, Iranian media confirms: The life and beliefs of Supreme Leader ## Pre-1979 Iran-Israel ties In 1948, the Arab states’ fundamental opposition to Israel led to the first Arab-Israeli war. However, Iran was not a part of that conflict, and after Israel won, it established ties with the Jewish state. It was the second Muslim-majority country to do so after Turkey. As an analysis from the Brookings Institute (‘Iran’s revolution, 40 years on: Israel’s reverse periphery doctrine’) notes, Israel tried to counter the hostility of Arab states at the time with the “periphery doctrine” under its first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion. He attempted “to forge an alliance with non-Arab (yet mostly Muslim) countries in the Middle East… Chief among these non-Arab partners were Turkey and pre-revolution Iran, countries who had (then) a common orientation toward the West and their own reasons to feel isolated in the Middle East.” The Pahlavi dynasty, under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ruled Iran at the time. The US and Israel backed the regime, and the two countries maintained ties with each other, with Iran also selling oil to Israel amid its economic boycott by Arab states. The 1979 revolution A religious state was established in Iran after the Shah was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, even though the opposition to the regime included communists and people not necessarily supportive of a theocratic state. Nonetheless, the new regime’s view of Israel was not the same as the Shah’s, and it was now seen as an occupier of Palestinian land. The Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini termed Israel “Little Satan” and the United States the “Great Satan”, seeing the two as parties interfering in the region. Iran also sought to grow its presence in the Middle East, challenging the two major powers, Saudi Arabia and Israel, both of whom were US allies. Other developments in the region also influenced their relations. Egypt’s leader Gamal Abdel Nasser had long championed the idea of “pan-Arabism” in the region, arguing for the cultural commonalities between the Arab states to be translated into larger solidarity and unity. This put Iran, a non-Arab country, at odds with it. With the death of Nasser in 1970, Iran’s relations with countries such as Egypt warmed. An article in Israeli media outlet Haaretz noted, “The signing of an accord between Iran and Iraq in 1975 — in which Iran agreed to stop arming Kurdish-Iraqi separatists — led to a temporary lessening of hostility between those implacable enemies. In both cases, Israel’s strategic value to Iran suffered.” ## A Shadow War after 1979 As a result, the ties between the countries worsened. For decades, Israel and Iran did not engage in direct military confrontation, and instead attempted to inflict damage on the other through proxies and limited strategic attacks. Israel has attacked Iranian nuclear facilities from time to time. In the early 2010s, it targeted several facilities and nuclear scientists in a bid to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. In 2010, the US and Israel are believed to have developed Stuxnet, a malicious computer virus. Used to attack a uranium enrichment facility at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site, it was the “first publicly known cyberattack on industrial machinery”, according to Reuters. Iran, meanwhile, is seen as responsible for funding and supporting several militant groups in the region that are anti-Israel and anti-US, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This support was why concerns of a widening conflict or a confrontation were raised in 2023. Since then, Israel has also targeted the heads of many of these groups, dealing a blow to what is known as Iran’s “Axis of Resistance”. Recent shift towards direct conflict Israel and Iran first engaged in a direct conflict in April 2024. The Iranian attack was in response to the suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian consular building in Syria’s Damascus that killed 12 people, including a senior general. Israel then launched its own strikes. In June 2025, Israel launched airstrikes towards Iran, targeting multiple nuclear and military facilities, and killing several senior military officers and scientists under what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called “Operation Rising Lion”. Iran attempted retaliation, but Israel has emerged with an upper hand in both these conflicts, owing to its more advanced military systems and support from the US. Netanyahu framed what was the biggest attack on Iran in decades as an attempt to remove the “nuclear threat” to Israel. Addressing the people of Iran in a video message, he said the time had come for them to stand up for their freedom from an “evil and oppressive regime”, which has “never been weaker.” This language was repeated by many in the West after mass protests broke out in Iran late last year, primarily over economic concerns. US President Donald Trump also exerted pressure on Iran for its treatment of protestors, forcing it to reach negotiations for a deal. But once again, a failure to reach an agreement — also driven by Israel’s opposition to the Iranian regime — has led to the same sequence of events. Rishika Singh is a deputy copyeditor at the Explained Desk of The Indian Express. She enjoys writing on issues related to international relations, and in particular, likes to follow analyses of news from China. Additionally, she writes on developments related to politics and culture in India. ... Read More