Iran and Israel – Turning from friends to enemies an era of friendship between Iran and Israel
Before the 1979 revolution in Iran, Israel, and Iran were so close allies that Israel was all set to arm Iran with nuclear missiles. In 1977, the Shah of Iran Mohammad Pahlavi sent his important ministers to Israel for holding secret talks with the newly formed government in the then-state of Israel. In April 1977, the Shah of Iran entered a total of six “oil for arms” contracts with Israel. Israel even agreed to modify its advanced surface-to-surface missiles at the demand of Iran. Not only this, Iran and Israel even agreed to establish a military co-production line wherein Iran was to provide Israel with requisite finances along with test sites and Israel was to provide its advanced technology. Under this arrangement, Israel was to equip Iran with surface-to-surface missiles. Such missiles had a range of 700 kilometres and were developed to carry a nuclear warhead as well.
SHATTERING OF FRIENDSHIP
The 1979 revolution in Iran ended Shah’s monarchy and there came an establishment of a theocratic republic. The whole region of Iran was altered radically. Before the revolution, Iran was an American ally. It was one of the natural powers owing to its population, geography, and resources. After the revolution, Iran’s relationship with America and Israel nose-dived. Iran after the revolution posed many challenges to other countries be it geopolitical threats, or existential or ideological challenges. Presently, Iran and Israel are engaged in a shadow war. Israel has successfully undertaken such operations inside the territory of Iran, which had destroyed its missile programmes. Such operations have been named “Octopus Doctrine” by the former Prime Minister of Israel, Naftali Bennett. The doctrine explains to attack the octopus on its head and not just keep hitting its tentacles. Iran even terms the Jew holocaust as misleading. It states that such an incident never happened.
FROM JCPOA TO MAXIMUM PRESSURE POLICY
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which came into effect in 2016 aimed to provide economic advantages to Iran so that its nuclear activities could be curtailed. The anti-Iran axis is composed of the United States, along with Israel and Gulf monarchies. All agree that Iran if powered with nuclear weapons, would pose a great threat in the region. In 2018, Donald Trump withdrew from JCPOA and introduced another policy by the name of “Maximum Pressure”. The policy refers to more stringent sanctions imposed on Iran by the Trump regime to deter it from developing nuclear weaponry. The aim for which such a policy was introduced by the Trump administration was that it would force Iran to sit and enter negotiations. However, Iran initiated a “Maximum Resistance” stance and launched attacks against Saudi Arabia and Aden Gulf in retaliation.
The United States of America’s act of killing Qassem Soleimani in January 2020 though seemed to put a noose on Iran, but it had vowed to avenge the killing of its general. Despite Israel’s multiple attempts to sabotage Iran, Iran has successfully enriched its Uranium to a level that is almost close to what is needed for developing weapons. Usually, countries sharing borders are having such intensive conflicts and hostilities amongst themselves. Here Iran and Israel share no borders but their issues and hostilities have created quite a slippery slope in the region. Iran has asserted its ambition to annihilate the Jewish state. How the anti-Iran axis deals with an Iran hell bound on creating havoc would be pertinent to observe.
