Iran–Israel relations

Iran and Israel have maintained no diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and their relationship has been characterized by hostility ever since. Originally, relations were relatively cordial during the first three decades of Israeli independence, and saw close partnership between the two countries. However, following the revolution, Iran adopted the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state as a core component of its foreign policy. The Iranian government refuses to recognize Israel’s legitimacy as a state, calling for its destruction, and views Palestine as the sole legitimate authority over the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. Furthermore, Iran has been a significant sponsor of various militant groups throughout the Middle East, providing funding, training, and support to factions hostile to Israel. In response, Israel sees Iran as an existential threat. Israel has targeted Iranian assets, and most notably, its nuclear program, through a combination of assassinations, airstrikes, and covert operations. In 2025 and 2026 the hostility escalated to a large scale armed conflict.

In 1947, Iran was among 13 countries that voted against the United Nations Partition Plan for the British Mandate of Palestine. Two years later, Iran also voted against Israel's admission to the United Nations. However, Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel as a sovereign state after Turkey. After the 1953 coup d'état, which strengthened the rule of the pro-Western leader Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as the shah of Iran, relations between the two countries significantly improved. After the Iranian revolution—in which Pahlavi was ousted and Iran's secular monarchy was replaced by an anti-Western Islamic republic—Iran severed diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel, although relations continued covertly during the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988).

Since 1985, Iran and Israel have been engaged in a proxy conflict that has greatly affected the geopolitics of the Middle East. The turn from cold peace to open hostility began in the early 1990s, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the defeat of Iraq in the Gulf War. Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin's government adopted a more aggressive posture on Iran, and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made inflammatory statements against Israel. Other factors contributing to the escalation of tensions include the Iranian nuclear program, Iran's funding of Islamist groups such as Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and the Houthis, and Iran's involvement in attacks such as the 1992 Buenos Aires Israeli embassy bombing and the 1994 AMIA bombing, as well as Israeli threats of military action.

Iranian and Israeli organizations have been involved in direct military confrontations, such as in the 2006 Lebanon War. Iran and Israel have provided support for opposing factions in the Syrian and Yemeni civil wars and conducted cyberattacks and sabotage against each other's infrastructure, including attacks on nuclear facilities and oil tankers. Iran's proxy conflict with Saudi Arabia has led to an informal alliance between Israel and Arab states. In 2024, amid increasing regional tensions stemming from the Gaza war, Iran–Israel tensions escalated to a period of direct conflict; both carried out missile strikes on the other and Israel assassinated targets in Iran and Syria. In 2025, Israel carried out strikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets, sparking the 12 day long Iran–Israel war. In 2026, Israel and the United States launched a joint airstrike bombing campaign in Iran that is currently ongoing. As part of these strikes, Israel with U.S. support assassinated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on 28 February 2026.