Iran |
Israel |
Iran–Israel relations have shifted from close ties between Israel and Iran during the era of the Pahlavi dynasty to hostility since the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Iran has severed all diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel, and its government does not recognize Israel as a country and refers to its government as the "Zionist regime". The land is referred to by Iran as "Occupied territories".
Due to recent rhetoric between Iran and Israel, development of nuclear technology, and funding of the groups Hamas and Hezbollah, tensions have risen between the State of Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran,[1] especially after the election of the hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005.
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The beginnings of Jewish history in Iran date back to late Biblical times. The biblical books of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, and Esther contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia. In the book of Ezra, the Persian king Cyrus the Great is credited with permitting and enabling the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple; its reconstruction was carried out "according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia" (Ezra 6:14). This great event in Jewish history took place in the late sixth century BC, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia. Persian Jews have lived in the territories of today's Iran for over 2,700 years, since the first Jewish diaspora when Shalmaneser V conquered the (Northern) Kingdom of Israel (722 BC) and sent the Israelites into captivity at Khorasan. In 586 BC, the Babylonians expelled large populations of Jews from Judea to the Babylonian captivity. Jews who migrated to ancient Persia mostly lived in their own communities.
The Jewish Bible's Ketuvim ends in Second Chronicles with the decree of Cyrus, which returned the exiles to the Promised Land from Babylon along with a commission to rebuild the temple.
'Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth hath Yahweh, the God of heaven, given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all His people -- may Yahweh, his God, be with him -- let him go there.' (2 Chronicles 36:23)
This edict is also fully reproduced in the Book of Ezra.
"In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: ‘Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the temple, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt and let its foundations be retained, its height being 60 cubits and its width 60 cubits; with three layers of huge stones and one layer of timbers. And let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. ‘Also let the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be returned and brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of God.’ (Ezra 6:3-5)
As a result of Cyrus's policies, the Jews honored him as a dignified and righteous king.
Cyrus ordered rebuilding the Second Temple in the same place as the first; however, he died before it was completed. Darius the Great came to power in the Persian empire and ordered the completion of the temple. According to the Bible, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah urged this work. The temple was ready for consecration in the spring of 515 BCE, more than twenty years after the Jews' return to Jerusalem.
From the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 until the Iranian Revolution and the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979, Israel and Iran maintained close ties. Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel[2] as a sovereign nation after Turkey.[3][4] Israel viewed Iran as a natural ally as a non-Arab power on the edge of the Arab world, in accordance with David Ben Gurion's concept of an alliance of the periphery. Israel had a permanent delegation in Tehran which served as an unofficial de facto embassy.
After the Six Day War, Iran supplied Israel with a significant portion of its oil needs and Iranian oil was shipped to European markets via the joint Israeli-Iranian Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline.[5][6] Brisk trade between the countries continued until 1979.[7] Israeli construction firms and engineers were active in Iran. Iranian-Israeli military links and projects were kept secret, but they are believed to have been wide-ranging,[8] for example the joint military project Project Flower (1977-79), an Iranian-Israeli attempt to develop a new missile.[9][10]
In spite of all those ties and trades, Iran voted in support of the UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 in 1975 which equated Zionism with racism[11] (the resolution, however, was later revoked with Resolution 4686 in 1991, which post-revolution Iran voted against).
During Ayatollah Khomeini's campaign to overthrow Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Israel, which had relatively warm relations with the Shah, became an issue. Khomeini declared Israel an "enemy of Islam" and 'The Little Satan'[12] - the United States was called 'The Great Satan'.
Debate still runs as to whether Khomeini called out: “Israel must be wiped off the map”[13] indicating military action and destruction, or: “this regime occupying Jerusalem should vanish from the pages of time” indicating a hope or wish (see Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Israel#"Wiped off the map" or "Vanish from the pages of time" translation).
After the second phase of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which witnessed the establishment of the Islamic Republic, Iran cut off all official relations; official statements, state institutes, events and sanctioned initiatives adopted a sharp anti-Zionist stance.
According to Dr. Trita Parsi, author of "Treacherous Alliance - The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States," (Yale University Press, 2007), Iran's strategic imperatives compelled the Khomeini government to maintain clandestine ties to Israel, while hope that the periphery doctrine could be resurrected motivated the Jewish State's assistance to Iran.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in December 2000 called Israel a "cancerous tumor" that should be removed from the region.[14][15] In 2005 he emphasized that “Palestine belongs to Palestinians, and the fate of Palestine should also be determined by the Palestinian people”.[16]
Also in 2005 Khamenei responded to President Ahmadinejad's alleged remark that Israel should be "wiped off the map" by saying that "the Islamic Republic has never threatened and will never threaten any country."[17]
Under reformist Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, elected in 1997, some believed Iran–Israel relations would improve. Khatami called Israel an "illegal state" and a "parasite," [18] but also said in 1999 Jews would be "safe in Iran" and all religious minorities would be protected.[19]
A report indicates that Iran tried in 2003 to initiate a rapprochement with Israel by recognizing its existence in a proposal to the United States. The report claims that Iran's peace proposal with Israel was not accepted by the United States.[20]
In January 2004, Khatami spoke to an Israeli reporter who asked him on what grounds Iran would recognize Israel. This was believed to be the first time he had spoken publicly with an Israeli.[21]
At the funeral of Pope John Paul II in April 2005, Khatami was seated close to the Iranian-born Israeli President Moshe Katsav, who is from the same province, the Yazd Province, as Khatami. Katsav said that he shook Khatami's hand and the two had a brief conversation about Iran. However, Khatami denied this.[22]
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in office since August 2005, at the October 2005 "World Without Zionism" conference in Teheran[23] adopted a sharp anti-Zionist stance.
On December 8, 2005, during a summit of Muslim nations in Islam's holy city of Mecca, Ahmadinejad told Iran's Arabic channel Al-Alam a complicated story on Holocaust and the establishment of Israel. Since then, he regularly makes statements pertaining to these topics.
On November 21, 2011, during [Khorasan's international book fair], the book 'How must the Israel be destroyed?'[24] was put to display on a very sophisticated ceremony and was chosen as the book of the year in soft war affairs, which made Radio Israel International Farsi to report the book as the true face of Iran’s regime,[25] This book is by a group of Iranian religious scholars. In its seven chapters, the authors showed various characteristics of Jewish people according to the Holy Quran, Muslims religious book, suggested some ways to destroy this race.[26]
In April 2006, CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer interviewed[27] Ambassador Soltanieh, Iran’s Permanent Representative to the IAEA .
Blitzer: “(…) This is what (…) Ahmadinejad said (…): "Israel must be wiped off the map of the world, and god willing (…) we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionists." You understand why people in the West (…) are so concerned (…) given those kinds of direct threats against Israel (…)”.
Soltanieh: “(…) the policy of Islamic Republic of Iran (…) is against any sort of school of thought or regime such as apartheid, Zionism, racism (…) apartheid was disappeared and it could not be accepted by civilized world, this Zionism and aggression of racism is also condemned (…).”
Blitzer: Does your support for the removal of Zionism mean you want to see Israel destroyed?
Soltanieh: “(…) the Jews, Christians and Muslims (…) if they come with the Palestinians, homeless Palestinians, to come and through following the democratic process will decide on a government and live in peace (…) Iran will support because we (…) support peaceful settlement of the whole issue and peaceful coexistence of these divine religions in the Middle East. Let's hope for the peace.”
Blitzer: “But should there be a state of Israel?”
Soltanieh: “I think I’ve already answered to you. If Israel is a synonym and will give the indication of Zionism mentality, no. But if you are going to conclude that we have said the people there have to be removed or we [said] they have to be massacred or so, this is fabricated, unfortunate selective approach to what the mentality and policy of Islamic Republic of Iran is. (…)”
In a speech at a tourism convention in Tehran in July 2008, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Vice President and Head of Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran, proclaimed, "No nation in the world is our enemy, Iran is a friend of the nation in the United States and in Israel, and this is an honor. We view the American nation as one with the greatest nations of the world."[28] He also added that Iran "wants no war with any country," insisting that Iran's actions during the Iran–Iraq War were purely defensive.[29]
Hard-liners close to the government harshly attacked Mashaei's remarks. Ahmadinejad, however, appeared to defend Mashaei. At a news conference, he said, "The Iranian nation never recognized Israel and will never ever recognize it. But we feel pity for those who have been deceived or smuggled into Israel to be oppressed citizens in Israel."[28]
The issue prompted Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei to "spell an end to the debates" on Israel. During a Friday sermon in Tehran, he stated, "It is incorrect, irrational, pointless and nonsense to say that we are friends of Israeli people... we are on a collision course with the occupiers of Palestine and the occupiers are the Zionist regime. This is the position of our regime, our revolution and our people."[28]
In 1998, Israeli businessman Nahum Manbar was sentenced to 16 years in prison in Israel for doing business with Tehran, and in the course of the investigation, "hundreds of companies" were found to have illegal business dealings with Iran.[30] The fall-out reached the United States as some transactions were alleged to have been part of the Iran-Contra scandal.
A controversy over Israeli-Iranian business links erupted in mid-2011. Israeli company Ofer Brothers Group was subject to U.S. sanctions after it was revealed that it sold ships to Iran via a third party, and that its ships also docked at Iranian ports.[31]
Ynet reported that trade between Israel and Iran totals tens of millions of dollars a year. Much of this trade is conducted through a third country. Israel supplies Iran with fertilizer, pipes, and hormones for food; Iran, meanwhile, provides Israel with cashews and marble.[32]
Israel was involved in the arming of Iran during the Pahlavi dynasty:
The Observer estimated that Israel's arms sales to Iran during the Iran-Iraq war totalled US$ 500 million annually [4], and Time Magazine reported that throughout 1981 and 1982, "the Israelis reportedly set up Swiss bank accounts to handle the financial end of the deals." [5] [33]
According to the report of the U.S. Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair issued in November 1987, "the sale of U.S. arms to Iran through Israel began in the summer of 1985, after receiving the approval of President Reagan." [6] These sales included "2,008 TOW missiles and 235 parts kits for Hawk missiles had been sent to Iran via Israel." Further shipments of up to US$2 billion of American weapons from Israel to Iran consisting of 18 F-4 fighter-bombers, 46 Skyhawk fighter-bombers, and nearly 4,000 missiles were foiled by the U.S. Department of Justice, and "unverified reports alleged that Israel agreed to sell Iran Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, radar equipment, mortar and machinegun ammunition, field telephones, M-60 tank engines and artillery shells, and spare parts for C-130 transport planes."[7] [8]
Israeli arms deals to Iran continued after the Iran-Iraq war, although sporadically and unofficially. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Iran supplies political support and weapons to Hamas,[34] an organization committed to the destruction of Israel by Jihad [35] According to Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, "Hamas is funded by Iran. It claims it is financed by donations, but the donations are nothing like what it receives from Iran.[36][37]
Iran has also supplied another enemy of Israel, the militant organization Hezbollah with substantial amounts of financial, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and organizational aid while persuading Hezbollah to take an action against Israel.[38][39][40] Hezbollah's 1985 manifesto listed its four main goals as "Israel's final departure from Lebanon as a prelude to its final obliteration" [41] According to reports released in February 2010, Hezbollah received $400 million dollars from Iran.[39]
The nuclear program of Iran with its potential to develop nuclear weapons, together with the anti-Israel rhetoric of the President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his demand for "the regime occupying Jerusalem" to "vanish from the page of time", has led some Israelis to fear an eventual attack from Iran.[42]
In November 2003 a Scottish newspaper claimed that Israel "warned that it is prepared to take unilateral military action against Iran if the international community fails to stop any development of nuclear weapons at the country's atomic energy facilities".[43] It cited Israeli defence minister Shaul Mofaz stating, "under no circumstances would Israel be able to tolerate nuclear weapons in Iranian possession". In December 2005, a British newspaper claimed that the Israeli military had been ordered by then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to plan for possible strikes on uranium enrichment sites in Iran in March 2006, based on Israeli intelligence estimates that Iran would be able to build nuclear weapons in two to four years. It was claimed that the special forces command was in the highest stage of readiness for an attack (state G) in December of the following year. Ariel Sharon reportedly said, "Israel - and not only Israel - cannot accept a nuclear Iran. We have the ability to deal with this and we're making all the necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation."[44] Israeli military Chief of Staff, Dan Halutz, was quoted as responding to the question of how far Israel was ready to go to stop Iran's nuclear energy program with the statement "Two thousand kilometers".[45]Seymour Hersh says U.S. Department of Defense civilians led by Douglas Feith have been working with Israeli planners and consultants to develop and refine potential nuclear, chemical-weapons, and missile targets inside Iran.[46]
On 8 May 2006, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said in an interview with Reuters that "the president of Iran should remember that Iran can also be wiped off the map," Army Radio reported.[47] Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, drew unusually stiff criticism from an analyst on Israel's state television, Yoav Limor, for talking of destroying another country.[48]
In May 2006, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz stated that Iran’s nuclear facilities can be destroyed, hinting at a possible plan to do just that.[49]
Shabtai Shavit, a former chief of the Mossad, said Iranian atomic facilities could be destroyed within a year, but has not ruled out going that direction. Isaac Ben-Israel, a former general of the Israeli Air Force, said an attack could be carried out at any time but only as a last resort.[50] Iran's Shahab-3 missile exercises were conducted in early July demonstrating that Israel was within reach.
According to the New York Times, Israel sought help from the United States for a military attack against Iran.[51] Israel reportedly asked for bunker-busting bombs for an attack on Iran's main nuclear complex and for permission to fly over Iraq to reach Iran's major nuclear complex at Natanz. The Bush administration rejected the requests. According to the article, White House officials never conclusively determined whether Israel had decided to go ahead with the strike before the United States protested, or whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was trying to goad the White House into more decisive action before President Bush left office.[51]
On 27 July 2009, Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak during a press conference with Robert Gates, the US Defense Secretary, in Jerusalem, "...warned Iran that a military strike on its nuclear facilities was still an option. We clearly believe that no option should be removed from the table. This is our policy. We mean it. We recommend to others to take the same position but we cannot dictate it to anyone”.[52] The same day, Isarel's Ambassador to US, Gabriela Shalev, during a special UN Security Council session held to discuss the situation in the Middle East, called Iran the "biggest supporter of terrorism. The Islamic Republic's nuclear program and its support of terrorism pose a threat to the entire Middle East." [53]
Recently retired Mossad chief Meir Dagan has called a possible Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities "the stupidest thing I have ever heard". A comment supported by two other former Mossad chiefs, but condemned by members of the current cabinet.[54]
On May 26, 2006, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov reiterated Moscow's commitment to supply Iran with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles. However Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President of F-35 Program Integration Tom Burbage has indicated that once Israel has the F-35 it need not fear the S-300.[55]
In June 2008, Israel conducted a major military exercise that American officials speculated might be training for a bombing attack on Iran. A senior Pentagon official said one of the goals of the exercise was to send a clear message to the United States and other countries that Israel was prepared to act militarily: “They wanted us to know, they wanted the Europeans to know, and they wanted the Iranians to know,” the Pentagon official said. “There’s a lot of signaling going on at different levels.”[56]
The Bush administration did agree to sell a thousand GBU-39 standoff bunker penetrating bombs to Israel, but a strike against Natanz would require hundreds of these bombs.[57]
On April 1, Army General David Petraeus said “the Israeli government may ultimately see itself so threatened by the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon that it would take preemptive military action to derail or delay it.[58]
Top Iranian general referring to the case of Mordechai Vanunu, former Israel's nuclear technician, who revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986, stated that "Israel's nuclear arsenal possess an immediate threat to Middle East".[59]
On 17 September 2009, Ze'ev Elkin said that the delivery by Russia of S-300 missiles may prompt Israel to strike Iran.[60] However in June 2010 Russia voted for UN sanctions to prevent the S-300 missile sale.[61]
The global price of oil is likely to increase suddenly and dramatically should Israel strike Iran's nuclear facilities. It is just as likely, although not to the same degree, that the price of oil will increase if Iran successfully develops nuclear weapons.[62]
Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki declared that Israel was not capable of an attack and still recovering from the 2006 war in Lebanon.[50] The Iranian Chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari said Israel was within the reach of Iranian missiles and Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off two-fifths of the global oil supply.[50] Iran has the capability to close the Strait of Hormuz or impede traffic for a month or more, and any U.S. attempts to reopen it could escalate the conflict. [63]
According to Mohammad Ali Jafari "If Israel military agresses against sovereignty and independence of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the country will use its right, established under international law which inevocably establishes the right to defend its sovereignty by all lawful means available to it. Moreover, if such aggression is penetrated, the United Nations will be obliged to repulse such an aggression towards its sovereign member".[59]
On 7 February 2010, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the destruction of Israel was assured. According to the Teheran Times, Khamenei told Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, "Israel is going downhill toward decline and fall and God willing its obliteration is certain". Khamenei went on to call Israel "a symbol of atrocity, viciousness, and ugliness," and said the West’s "support for the Zionist regime is ineffective."[64]
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, said that if Israel attacked Iran it would be destroyed within a week.[65]
On 11 October 2011 the United States claimed to have foiled a plot by the Iranian government that included bombing the Israeli (as well as Saudi) embassies in Washington, DC and Buenos Aires, which could be viewed as an act of war against the parties involved.[66]
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