Partnership between Israel and Iran. Part 2

Ksenia Fomina, exclusively to VK

An element of tension is Introduced into the confrontation due to the Iranian nuclear issue. Israeli officials are wary of claims about "peaceful atomic energy", and see the Iranian nuclear program as a preparation for the attacks on Israel and make statements about the attempts to prepare for a response or even a preemptive strike. It is now hardly possible to imagine that once Israel and Iran were partners. See http://vestnikkavkaza.net/analysis/politics/35275.html

Before the Shah, Iran turned to the Islamic Republic of Iran, cooperation with Israel had been acceptable for the Iranian authorities. It seemed the Islamic revolution of 1979 cut these bonds forever. In October 1979 ayatollah Khomeini urged all Islamic states of the world to declare sacred war against Israel; and all contacts between Iran and Israel were broken. Israel didn’t match with the policy of foreign relations, which was determined by the Iranian constitution adopted in late 1979. Its 10th article defines the following foreign political course: Islamic principles, brotherhood duties toward Muslims of the world, absolute protection of the afflicted in the Islamic world. There was no place for Israel. It is difficult to imagine its role in the hierarchy of relations between Iran and foreign countries, considering its structure: countries-neighbors, Islamic states, countries of “the third world”, countries which satisfy Iranian demands in the political, economic, military, and social spheres.

After the revolution the concept of Shiism gained the governmental status in Iran. It is based on the idea of forming the all-world state where all people are members of an Islamic community. The first stage of implementation of this idea was the victory of the Iranian revolution and the country’s existence in the current form, according to Iranian theologians. The further development of the idea would be possible through export of the revolution to other Muslim countries and future globalizations which is seen by Iran as “submission of all the rest countries by Islam.” The key obstacle on this path was Israel which located in the center of the Islamic world. Khomeini defined the task on fighting against Israel as “liberating Jerusalem.”

The reason for Iranian-Israeli contradiction is also the fact that the authorities of Iran decided to turn to an idea of a foreign enemy when they faced a drastic drop in the social living level, which could lead to serious socio-political disasters. Israel was perfect for this role as “a knife in the center of the Arab world” and a partner of “the big devil” – the USA.

Such dramatic changes in relations with Iran didn’t mean anything positive for Israel. In 1978 export of Israel products to Iran was almost $100 million; import from Iran – $7.8 million. The mutually beneficial flows were cut immediately. What was especially painful for Israel was absence of access to Iranian oil.

Nevertheless, actually cooperation between two countries continued, but now it turned to secret contacts. The period of a new outburst was undergone by these informal contacts after the beginning of the Iranian-Iraqi war in September 1980, which lasted for more than 8 years. Launching American embargo on armament export to Iran in November 1979 led to the situation when the Iranian authorities had to find new partners who would agree to supply spare parts for American armament to Iran. The government of Menachem Begin began to provide Iran with a half of imported armament, spare parts, and ammunition in March 1982. Of course Israel exported armament to Iran secretly, through third countries or fake companies and international mediation organizations. The majority of deals were registered on an Iranian businessman – a person who lived in Athens. According to the American media, Israel annually exported armament to Iran, which costed from $500 million to $1 billion.

Speaking about reasons for these supplies, we can recall the famous statement by Ben-Gurion, which was voiced in 1959: “Do anything you want, but it should be good for Israel and be required by its security demands.” It was profitable for Israel to sell such an amount of weapons. It brought billions to the state budget.

Moreover, Israel had a serious reason for maintaining normal relations with Iran: Israel’s goal was to secure a major Jewish community living in Iran. Confrontation between two countries would mean a serious threat to the community. Israeli supplies to Iran were a bargain: the Iranian authorities agree to let Jews migrate freely.

The other pragmatic goal was that Israel could pressure on Iran for weakening the possible rival.

In the second half of the 1980s Israel received an offer to import Iranian oil in return for armament. Previously Israel had to import oil from the Latin American countries. Thus, Tel Aviv managed to solve one of the most urgent problems for its economy due to Iran.

As Israel began to provide Iran with armament, the IRI experienced crucial changes. It forgot the sacred war against Israel and stopped mentioning it in the mass media. In October 1985 Iran revoked its proposal in the UN to dismiss Israel from this international organization. The Iranian leaders clearly emphasized that the war against Israel right after the war against Iraq was not their aim. First of all, they wanted to overcome the crisis appeared due to the war.

Thus, in the first decade after the Islamic revolution, which was spoiled by the war against Iraq, the relations between the IRI and Israel began to restore. Firstly, it concerned the economic sphere – supplies of armament and oil. In the political sphere they still had disputes – on the Palestinian issue or Lebanon where both countries had their own interests. However, all in all a positive tendency could be seen in relations between two states.