 "As Netanyahu dares Khamenei, here's timeline of Israel-Iran conflict")
In the early hours of Friday, Israel struck Iran’s nuclear sites, wiped out the Iranian military’s chain of command, and destroyed a host of military sites ranging from air defence units to missile launchers. As Iran responded, the two countries entered direct war after decades of proxy warfare.
This is the third time that the two have found each other in a direct confrontation in more than a year — even though this one is the most intense.
In the past two instances, both the sides made it a point to offer an offramp to the other and leave a scope of de-escalation in their own attacks. With strikes on Friday and follow-up attacks that continue, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not left any room of de-escalation — at least for now.
Here is the timeline of the Israel-Iran conflict from 1970s to 2024.
The Islamic Revolution of Iran of 1979
As they have clashed for decades, it may appear that Israel and Iran are natural enemies, but that is not the case.
Until the Islamic Revolution of 1979 , when radical Islamists overthrew the rule of liberal, pro-West Shah of Iran and established a theocracy, Israel and Iran had extensive partnerships in the domains of economy, trade, defence, agriculture, and intelligence.
Iran was part of Israel’s ‘Alliance of the Periphery’ along with Turkey and Ethiopia. The idea of the alliance was to be friends with non-Arab countries in the West Asia and North Africa region — the enemy’s enemy being your friend.
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In his book ‘The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World’, Avi Shlaim called Iran the “jewel in the crown of the Alliance of the Periphery”.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Its common border with the Soviet Union made Iran a front-line state in the Cold War. Traditional hostility between Iran and the Arab world also facilitated cooperation with Israel. In March 1950, Iran recognised Israel de facto and permitted it to maintain an unofficial low-level representation in Tehran. Iran also supplied oil to Israel. In the aftermath of Suez this low-level economic relationship was transformed into a close political and strategic partnership,” noted Shlaim.
That changed with the Islamic Revolution of 1979 of Iran when the Islamist Ayatollah Ali Khomenei took over the country. He made opposition to Israel and the United States, whom he called ‘Small Satan’ and ‘Great Satan’ respectively, central to the ruling ideology and formally committed Iran to the destruction of Israel.
Contrary to the tone that Netanyahu has now chosen, which calls for the overthrowal of the Ayatollah’s regime in Tehran, Israel for years sought a relationship with Iran even after the Islamic Revolution. Israel supported Iran in the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). However, with no reciprocity, Israel’s attempts faded and the two sides entered a decadeslong phase of proxy warfare that erupted into a full-scale war last week.
Israel-Iran proxy war (1980s-2024)
Even as Israel supported Iran against Iraq, Iran propped Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982.
Until its decapitation in 2024, Hezbollah would remain the most potent non-state actor in West Asia , with tens of thousands of fighters and an arsenal of hundreds of thousands of missiles and rockets. Inside Lebanon, Hezbollah ran a state inside a state and controlled vast swathes of territories in the southern part of the country bordering Israel. The group clashed with Israel numerous times, conducted attacks, and fought wars.
In the 1990s, Iran also started supporting Hamas, which later went on to become the principal Palestinian anti-Israel group. Both Hezbollah and Hamas share Iran’s goal of destroying Israel.
These are the major incidents during the proxy war:
1992: Argentina Embassy bombing: Hezbollah bombed the Embassy of Israel in Buenos Aeris, Argentina, killing 29 people, including four Israelis.
1994: AMIA Jewish center was bombed in Argentina, killing 85 killed. Hezbollah was blamed for the attack.
2002: Western intelligence agencies expose the Iranian nuclear weapons programme.
2003: Iran formally shuts down the nuclear programme and enters talks.
2006: Iran resumes nuclear fuel enrichment.
2010: Stuxnet virus attack on Natanz nuclear site.
2010-onward: Assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists.
During 2010-20, Israel assassinated at least six Iranian nuclear scientists, including Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was known as the father of Iranian nuclear programme. He was killed in 2020 with a robotic gun. Other scientists killed included Masoud Alimohammadi (2010), Majid Shahriari (2010), Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani (2010; he survived), Daryoush Rezaei-Nejad (2011), and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan (2012).
2020: The United States assassinated Qasem Soleimani, the chief of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force in Iraq. Israel assisted in the strike. Following the strikes, Iran and its proxies in the region targeted US military bases in the region with missiles and rockets.
Israel-Iran conflict of 2024
After decades of proxy war and cold war, Israel and Iran exchanged direct blows for the first time in 2024 in the aftermath of the October 7 attack.
In April, an Israeli strike on the Iranian diplomatic mission in Syrian capital Damascus killed senior officers of the IRGC.
Iran and its proxies launched hundreds of missiles and drones on Israel and a defensive coalition propped by the United States, comprising the US, British, French, Saudi, Emirati, and Jordanian forces, helped Israel in its defence. Israel also responded with strikes days later.
Both sides carried out strikes in a manner that allowed them an off-ramp.
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On July 31, Israel assassinated then-Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in a bomb blast. In a colossal embarrassment for Iran, he was killed inside an IRGC guesthouse while he was attending the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Earlier that day, Israel had assassinated Fuad Shukr, the military chief of Hezbollah, in an airstrike in Lebanese capital Beirut.
Iran responded with hundreds of missiles and drones in October and Israel responded with retaliatory airstrikes.
In the second round of strikes too, both sides allowed them an off-ramp even as Israel delivered substantial blows to Iran.
This time too, the then-Joe Biden administration revived the defensive coalition for the defence of Israel .
In major achievements, Israel destroyed most of the Iranian air defence systems and damaged a key component of the nuclear programme.
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