Deceit and Double-Dealing

Iran and Israel are often and rightly seen as cutthroat enemies. This image bolstered on a global scale, especially after a pro-US regime of Shah of Iran was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979 led by Ayatollah Khamenei. The 1979 uprising in Iran rattled the political scene in the Middle East. However, the ironic nature of these brutal enemies stands as such that the two nations once stood as stout allies for decades and the acrimony shared between the two is relatively monochromatic unlike other rivalries in the region.

The notable tie between the two states has been the most unprecedented of all yet surprisingly one of the most feared conflicts of the Middle East. The scale of hype attached to the Iran-Israel discord is manifest from the hesitance of the United States, a strong ally of Israel, to enter a direct armed conflict with the Islamic state of Iran, despite being a confidant in almost every strife unfolding in the region. The geographical span of the region showcases the essence of control shared by the two states. Iran takes a pivotal position in the Middle Eastern region; verging over the northern periphery of the Persian Gulf and holding a strategically dominant position to the state of Iraq to the west and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the south west. Israel, on the other hand, controls the plain to the west extremity of the region, nudged between Jordan and Turkey. Without a second thought, it is apparent that Israel is encircled by hostile neighbors, with whilst Iran dominates a commanding position in the region, despite not sharing any direct borders with the State of Israel.

Historically speaking, despite voting against Israel following the Palestinian partition plan proposed by the United Nations and its clandestine support to the anti-Zionist narrative since the creation of the state of Israel in 1947, Iran came across as only the second Muslim nation, just behind Turkey, to recognise Israel in 1950. A further dissection of the political affection shared by the two states baffles the minds of most people. At the one hand, Iran stood as the major source of oil in the Middle East, but Israel emerged as a lucrative link to the United States on the other. In an apparent first, the Iran-Israel alliance benefitted either sides on both economic and strategic fronts; Iran being the sole oil supplier to Israel and the largest importer of the Israeli goods and merchandise while Israel proving as a nexus between Iran and the US in the midst of a surging Soviet involvement in the region, sponsoring Arab Nationalism as well as threatening the Iranian stability both in the regional and global power play.

The cooperation, however, was short-lived and strongly attached to the revolt boiling within the borders of Iran. The shiite-majority regime, led by Ayatollah Khamenei, stood at odds with the policies of the US-backed government of Shah Reza Pahlevi. The landmark revolution brought by Khamenei’s return from exile in 1979 deteriorated the relations tremendously; severing all immediate ties with the State of Israel and casting a direct retaliation against western influences and subsequent interferences. Albeit the fact that Israel could not fathom the deprivation of a country once deemed a ‘Best friend’, it supplied copious amounts of artillery ammunition to Iran, during the Iran-Iraq War of 1983-84. The last straw was drawn, however, in the ultimate decade of the millennial, following the fall of the Soviet Union coupled with the decimation of the rule of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, courtesy of the United States that went to the extent of regarding Iran as the gravest threat to the US and its regional minion, Israel.

The Middle East region has been riddled with numerous conflicts, deceit and double-dealing, but none could be compared to the sinister bonhomie between Iran and Israel. Although Israel has deemed its role as a front runner along with the US opposing the progress of Iran, be it pulling the US out of the 2015 Nuclear Deal or demeaning Iran ‘A terrorist State’, Iran has been accused of its alleged role in supporting militant groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and militant cells along the West Bank, containing Israel in a vice grip of terrorism. The turn of events following the regime change in the US has again riled the seemingly dormant relation between Israel and Iran. With Israel alluding a US strike over Iran over the course of the final months of Trump’s presidency, coupled with the assassination of Iran’s senior nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and Israel’s admitted interference in the covert operations within Iran, a new conflict could inflame much faster than many previous wars, thus turn the chapter of politics in the Middle East once again and that too in the wrong direction.