FROM THE 1979 IRANIAN REVOLUTION TO PRESENT: ISRAEL-IRAN HOSTILE RELATIONS

Decades of deep ideological, strategic, and military rivalry between Israel and Iranrooted in the 1979 revolution-continues to fuel proxy wars, nuclear tensions, and regional instability with no resolution in sight.

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The hostile relationship between Israel and Iran is one of the most enduring and complex rivalries in modern Middle Eastern politics, marked by decades of profound ideological differences, strategic competition, proxy conflicts, and persistent threats of direct military confrontation, which continue to destabilize the region and influence global geopolitics.

IMPACT OF THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION

In the early decades following Israel's establishment in 1948, the relationship between Israel and Iran was characterized not by animosity but by pragmatic cooperation, largely shaped by mutual strategic interests under the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who, despite being the monarch of a predominantly Muslim country, saw Israel as a necessary partner in countering the growing tide of Arab nationalism and Soviet influence in the Middle East, with the two nations maintaining diplomaticties, exchanging intelligence, and engaging in military and economic cooperation, particularly in the realms of arms sales and oil supply, which were vital to Israel's security and economy. However, this fragile alliance was shattered irrevocably in 1979 when the Islamic Revolution overthrew the Shah and replaced his proWestern monarchy with an Islamic Republic led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who fundamentally redefined Iran's foreign policy and worldview by adopting an aggressively anti-Israel stance rooted in revolutionary ideology that cast Israel as a symbol of Western imperialism and injustice, demanding its complete dismantlement and vocally supporting the Palestinian cause; this radical ideological shift led to the immediate severance of diplomatic relations between the two countries and set the stage for a bitter rivalry that has shaped the region ever since.

HEZBOLLAH, SYRIA, & PALESTINIAN MILITANTS