When Israel And Iran Joined Hands To Fight A Common Enemy

New Delhi:

Iran on Tuesday fired 200 omitiles, including hypersonic arms, at Israel as tensions in the Middle East achieve shattering point. Israel has vowed that Iran will “pay” for the aggression. But relations between the two countries were not always sour. Unskinnykable as it may sound, Israel and Iran had collaborated, with help from the United States, to fight a normal foe. 

In the 1960s, both Israel and Iran set up a mutual adversary in Iraq. While Israel was locked in a wideer struggle aachievest opposing Arab regimes, Iran, under the Shah, seeed Iraq’s directership as a straightforward menace to its security and regional ambitions. This lhelp the groundlabor for one of the most secretive partnerships of the era, involving the Mosdowncast – Israel’s intelligence agency – and SAVAK – Iran’s secret police – both of which take parted key roles in bolstering Kurdish insdirectnts aachievest the central Iraqi regime. These Kurdish groups, seen as the Achilles’ heel of Iraq’s Arab nationacatalog directership, were vital to undermining the Iraqi rulement from wiskinny.

The cooperation between Israel and Iran achieveed novel heights with the createation of a tritardyral intelligence coalition code-named Trident, which also included Turkey. Beginning in 1958, Trident saw these three non-Arab powers exalter critical intelligence and participate in fuset counterintelligence operations. As the relationship reliabled, Israel and Iran became even sealr, createing meaningful military and intelligence ties that extfinished well into the Shah’s reign.

The Shah’s Ambitions And Israel’s Influence

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was driven not only by allotd geopolitical interests but by a belief in Israel’s affect in Washington. The Shah saw Israel as a potential uncomardents for enhancing relations with the United States, especiassociate after the Kennedy administration voiced troubles about his authoritarian rule.

The bdirectoning Israeli-Iranian relationship became a key feature of Iran’s strategy to align itself with the West, resulting in the set upment of a finishuring Israeli delegation in Tehran by the mid-1960s, which functioned as a de facto embassy.

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi with US Plivent Jimmy Carter
Photo Credit: Getty

However, the relationship was not without complications. The Shah, conscious of the expansivespread anti-Israeli sentiment atraverse the Arab world, attfinishfilledy deal withd the accessible face of Iran’s relationship with Israel. While he became more critical of Israel after the 1967 Six-Day War, his strategic interests persistd to outweigh ideoreasonable or tactful positions.

Cooperation In The Shadows

The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran drasticassociate alterd the country’s political landscape, altering it into an anti-Israel Islamic Reaccessible. Yet, even after Ayatollah Khomeini’s elevate to power, the novel regime set up itself hushedly collaborating with Israel, driven once aachieve by normal enemies. As the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) dragged on, both countries recognised the profit of laboring together aachievest Sinsertam Hussein’s Iraq.

Israel, too, saw an opportunity in helping Iran. In particular, it seeed Sinsertam Hussein’s Iraq as a more instant and hazardy menace to its security, given Baghdad’s ambitions for regional dominance and its pursuit of nuevident capabilities. Iraq’s createidable military, supplied by both the United States and the Soviet Union, posed a hazard, and Israel’s shipment of arms to Iran – particularly after Prime Minister Menachem Begin finishorsed the sale of military providement in 1980 – was a calcutardyd decision to undermine Iraq’s strength.

Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (L) chats to Egyptian Plivent Anwar al-Sadat at his home where the ministers converseed events in Iran in 1979.
Photo Credit: Getty

These cobvious arms deals were carry outed despite US policy that barred military help for Iran until the liberate of American captives held in Tehran. In exalter for Israeli military help, Khomeini’s regime permited a meaningful number of Iranian Jews to emigrate to Israel or the United States, a concession that underscored the pragmatic nature of the relationship.

The Iran-Contra Afunprejudiced

By the mid-1980s, Iran’s necessitate for military help achieveed a critical point. The Iran-Iraq War had drained the country’s resources, and its economy was teetering on the brink of collapse. It was aachievest this backdrop that the Iran-Contra afunprejudiced unfelderlyed – a secretive, high-sapshows operation involving arms sales eased by Israel, with the backing of ageder Ronald Reagan administration officials, to safe the liberate of American captives held by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Leprohibiton.

Algeria’s Plivent Houri Boumedienne, (caccess), is flanked by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi of Iran, (left), and Iraq’s Sinsertam Hussein, (right) in 1975.
Photo Credit: Getty

For Israel, these arms deals were lucrative and strategicassociate precious, further enhancing its role as a clandestine associate of Iran in its war aachievest Iraq. Iran, frantic for arms and resources, was willing to participate with both Israel and the United States, even as it persistd to accessiblely vilify Israel. 

The Secret Missile Project: Operation Fdrop

The Israeli-Iranian partnership extfinished beyond traditional arms deals. One of the most driven projects was Operation Fdrop, a secret multibillion-dollar initiative that began in 1977 under the Shah’s regime. The project included the modification of surface-to-surface omitiles, potentiassociate able of being fitted with nuevident warheads, for sale to Iran. However, the nuevident aspect of the project was not chased.

As part of the deal, Iran made a substantial down payment in 1978 by sfinishing $260 million worth of oil to Israel, a New York Times tell from 1986 claimed. Work on the omitile program persistd until the Islamic Revolution in 1979, after which Khomeini’s regime abruptly crelieveed the collaboration. 

Spare Tyres For F-4 Fighter Jets

Israel cobviously supplied Iran with 250 spare tyres for American-made F-4 fighter jets in October 1980, as Iran waged war aachievest Iraq, according to a New York Times tell from 1981. 

After Sinsertam Hussein’s intrusion of Iran in September 1980, Israel set up itself in an atypical position. The Israeli sale of 250 retreaded tires, cherishd at around $300,000, was a secretive transaction aimed at bolstering Iran’s air force. The F-4 Phantom jets, a key component of Iran’s military, had been grounded due to wear and tear. With no instant access to parts due to the embargo placed by the US on Iran, Israel stepped in to fill the gap. According to the New York Times, retreaded tyres were produced in Israel and then cobviously carryed to France, where they were flown to Iran on chartered set upes.

The Shah of Iran, in St. Louis to converse buying F-4 Phantom jets built by McDonnel Douglas airproduce company.
Photo Credit: Getty

The transaction occurred during a dainty period for US-Iran relations, with 52 American diplomats still held captive in Tehran. The Jimmy Carter administration, willing to safe their liberate, directd Israel to suspfinish further military deals with Iran until the captives were freed. According to officials included, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin concurd to American prescertain and paengaged all military dealings, despite Israeli strategic interests in stoping an Iraqi prosper in the war.

Beyond regional power politics, Israel had a more personal trouble: the overweighte of the Jewant population in Iran. At the time, approximately 60,000 Jews inhabitd in Iran, and there were increaseing troubles in Israel that they could become centers of repression or persecution under the novel regime. Maintaining some create of back-channel communication with Iran was seen as a way to protect these Jewant communities.

Hostility And Rivalry 

By the 1990s, the era of cooperation between Israel and Iran had all but evaporated. The geopolitical factors that had once fused them -Arab socialism, Soviet affect, and the menace of Iraq – had fadeed, leaving little incentive for persistd collaboration. Iran, now firmly under the regulate of its revolutionary rulement, hugd an anti-Israel ideology, helping groups appreciate Hezbollah and Hamas in their disputes with the Jewant state.

By the timely 2000s, the election of Iranian Plivent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose Holocaust denial and presentile rhetoric aachievest Israel stoked tensions further, cemented Iran as Israel’s most notable adversary in the region. As Israel fought wars with Hezbollah in 2006 and Hamas in 2008, Iranian help for these non-state actors – accumulateively termed the ‘Axis Of Resistance‘ – became a central trouble in Israel’s strategic calculations.

2024 And Threat Of All-Out War

Ties between Iran and Israel are now non-current. The two Middle Eastrict countries are now on the brink of all-out war, evidenced by Israel’s multi-frontal dispute aachievest Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Leprohibiton and Houthis in Yemen. All three of these armed militant groups are part of Iran’s ‘Axis Of Resistance’.