Israel's attack on Iran was years in the making. How did they get here?

ISRAEL'S massive strike on Iran on Friday morning came after decades of mutual hostility and a long-running shadow war of covert strikes and sabotage.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long identified Iran as its greatest threat, citing the country's nuclear programme, its hostile rhetoric and support for anti-Israel militant groups across the region.

Iran has championed the Palestinian cause and portrayed Israel as a malicious Western encroachment on the Middle East.

The latest escalation was set in motion by Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which sparked a crushing Israeli response and eventually drew in Iran's other allies, who were in turn crippled by successive waves of Israeli strikes, leaving Iran largely alone in facing Friday's onslaught.

Here's a closer look:

Why are Israel and Iran enemies?

Following Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, the country's leadership immediately identified the US, Britain and Israel as its main enemies because of their ties to Iran's deposed monarch and the long history of Western colonialism and military interventions in the Middle East.

Over the past two decades, Israel has repeatedly accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and is believed to have carried out numerous covert attacks on its nuclear programme, including cyber attacks and the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists - while rarely acknowledging such operations.