IRAN AND ISRAEL: REAL ARCHENEMIES?

ARE IRAN AND ISRAEL REALLY ARCHENEMIES, OR IS IT JUST A FACADE? 

Executive Summary: 

·         USA granting IRAN large-scale nuclear energy program (1953)

·         Nuclear IRAN topic nothing new: saber rattling since 1979

·         ISRAEL, IRAN and TURKEY formed a trilateral intelligence alliance

·         Until the beginning of 1979, ISRAEL fought hard to help sustain the unity and strength of IRAN

·         ISRAEL’S arms sales to IRAN amounted to $500 million annually

·         IRANIAN regime increased its poisonous rhetoric against ISRAEL in order to maintain credibility in the wider Muslim world

·         Calculated tactics and strategies in order to obtain maximum geopolitical leverage

It is a mistake to believe that ISRAEL and IRAN are eternal enemies. In fact, these two countries that despise each other so much were once allies. This is not ancient history. Both pre- and post-Revolutionary IRAN had extensive military and economic ties with the Jewish state. As recently as two decades ago, each country considered the other a vital friend in a region filled with hostile enemies. Conflict between the two may be bitter, but it is not, and never was, inevitable.

USA GRANTING IRAN LARGE-SCALE NUCLEAR ENERGY PROGRAM (1953)

IRAN informally recognized ISRAEL in 1950, becoming the first Muslim-majority country after TURKEY to do so. With few allies in the region, ISRAEL welcomed IRAN’S modest support.  That support increased when the UK and the UNITED STATES overthrew the government in IRAN in 1953, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat) installing in its place a more Western-friendly regime. The new regime, headed by the Shah, was so aligned with the UNITED STATES that a deal was stuck granting  the PERSIAN nation a huge nuclear energy program, as well as large quantities of plutonium and enriched uranium — two pathways to a nuclear bomb.

Background Information: NUCLEAR IRAN TOPIC NOTHING NEW: SABER RATTLING SINCE 1979. Read entire article at: http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2012/06/iran.html
 
The ISRAELI-IRANIAN alliance was a part of the Shah’s pro-Western orientation. The Shah looked at ISRAEL as a way to establish friendly relations with the U.S. ISRAEL saw IRAN as a way to escape its regional isolation. They were bound by common enemies: the SOVIET UNION, and ARAB nationalism, especially IRAQ.

ISRAEL, IRAN AND TURKEY FORMED A TRILATERAL INTELLIGENCE ALLIANCE

The alliance, though never formalized or publicized because of ISRAEL’S unpopularity in the region, consisted of deep intelligence and arms cooperation, as well as oil sharing. In the late 1950s, ISRAEL, IRAN and TURKEY formed a trilateral intelligence alliance and performed counterterrorism intelligence operations. In the early 1960s, they teamed up to support IRAQI KURDS fighting the central regime. Tehran and Tel Aviv developed a close military and intelligence relationship that would continue to expand until the Islamic revolution.
The extent of this alliance should not be exaggerated. The Shah kept IRAN’S relationship with ISRAEL secretive for fear of rousing his own anti-ISRAELI population as well as those of IRAN’S neighbors. Instead, the alliance was based on the perception of common threats. But the threats emanating from the SOVIET UNION, IRAN and the ARAB bloc were perceived as so serious that they outlasted the Shah’s overthrow in 1979.

Background Information: UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF 1979, ISRAEL FOUGHT HARD TO HELP SUSTAIN THE UNITY AND STRENGTH OF IRAN. Read entire article at:
http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2013/05/syria-israel-and-turkey-and-iran-love.html

ISRAEL’S ARMS SALES TO IRAN AMOUNTED TO $500 MILLION ANNUALLY

The Islamist government that took power in IRAN in 1979 was deeply hostile towards Western doctrines. And yet, the requirements of IRANIAN national interest trumped ideology to force the Islamic government to cooperate with ISRAEL on a number of issues. Once the U.S.-supported IRAQI government invaded IRAN, the PERSIAN state turned to ISRAEL for much-needed arms. Phantom fighter planes and weapons for the IRANIAN army were sent by ISRAEL. One estimate puts ISRAEL’S arms sales to IRAN at $500 million annually.

IRANIAN REGIME INCREASED ITS POISONOUS RHETORIC AGAINST ISRAEL IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN CREDIBILITY IN THE WIDER MUSLIM WORLD 

In the mid-1980s ISRAEL was the conduit between IRAN and the Reagan administration during the illicit IRAN-Contra affair in which the Reagan administration sold weapons to the IRANIANS and used the proceeds to fund the anti-communist insurgency in NICARAGUA. Even as it was relying more on ISRAEL for arms in its war, the IRANIAN regime increased its poisonous rhetoric attacking ISRAEL, just as the Shah had done. Such rhetoric was meant to maintain credibility in the wider Muslim world, but wasn’t matched by action. “ISRAEL is IRAN’S best friend and we do not intend to change our position,” Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said in 1987.

Two events caused the gradual splitting between the erstwhile allies. First, the SOVIET UNION collapsed in 1991, removing the greatest threat outside of the region to both nations’ security. Second, the weakening of IRAQ during the Persian Gulf War diluted its menace. Simply put, IRAN and ISRAEL needed each other less, as both were more secure in the post-Cold War world. The common threats that for decades had prompted the two states to cooperate and find common geo-strategic interests — in spite of IRAN’S transformation into an Islamist anti-Zionist state —no longer exist.

The ISRAELIS, who had long ignored IRANIAN rhetoric, decided it needed to be taken seriously, especially in light of the Islamic state’s support for Hamas and Hezbollah. IRAN worried about ISRAEL’S growing power and wanted to assert power in the region. IRAN once had a more pragmatic leadership and policies. The marginalization of the reformers that were popular in the 1990s meant that the extremist factions in the leadership became dominant. AMERICA’S invasion of Saddam Hussein’s IRAQ in 2003 removed that country’s threat to ISRAEL, leaving it with IRAN as the most menacing nation in the region.

CALCULATED TACTICS AND STRATEGIES IN ORDER TO OBTAIN MAXIMUM GEOPOLITICAL LEVERAGE 

In recent past mainstream media and ISRAEL itself, increasingly stipulated that it is pushing for a preemptive airstrike on IRAN. Looking at ISRAEL history and how it conducts its wars and covert operations, it becomes imminent that it relies heavily on the element of surprise. Such was the case during most of its wars, rescue operations such as Entebbe, UGANDA in 1976, the IRAQI nuclear reactor air strike in 1981 and the alleged SYRIAN nuclear reactor airstrike in 2007. Thus as long as ISRAEL is “threatening” to attack IRAN on a daily base, and media coverage is in full swing, one can be sure that no such strike is imminent, for the element of surprise is lost. In most likelihood, ISRAEL’S threats of attacking IRAN and at the same time urging the USA to set a red line are calculated tactics and strategies in order to obtain certain concessions from the USA and indeed other allies. In most likelihood ISRAEL pursues a much more complex goal with its warmongering rhetoric’s against IRAN, than really intending to attack IRAN, one that will give ISRAEL inevitably some significant advantage, be it geopolitical, strategically or economically.

Background Information: WHY OF AN ISRAEL IRAN CONFLICT REMAIN LOW. Read entire article at:

http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/israel-and-iran-airstrike-unlikely.html

Under current conditions ISRAEL will never initiate a full scale attack against IRAN.  Nevertheless one should be aware that all current assumptions, analysis, opinions regarding the ISRAEL - IRAN confrontation are based on information fed to the broad public and media by the upper echelons of world politics. No one knows what wheeling and dealings regarding IRAN, SYRIA, ISRAEL, SAUDI ARABIA, the USA, TURKEY etc. are currently going on behind closed doors.