Israel and Iran developed a close relationship beyond military and intelligence ties.

New Delhi: As the world knows and sees today, Iran and Israel are not good friends. In fact, the two countries have been involved in violent disputes and disagreements, with Iran launching direct missile and drone attacks on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, when Iran rained down 200 missiles on Israel.

On April 13, 2024, Iran launched its first direct attack on Israel in retaliation for the April 1, 2024 Israeli bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, which killed two Iranian generals.

The Iranian attack included 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and more than 120 ballistic missiles, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed were intercepted using the Arrow 3, David Sling and Iron Dome.

But here it is a different story, even from the annals of history, when two sworn enemies joined hands to fight a common enemy, the worst enemy. Of course, with the help of America.

This was long before the 1979 revolution, which ousted the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and ended the monarchy in the Persian nation.

In the 1960s, Iraq was a thorn in the side of both Israel and Iran and thus their common enemy. Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has been constantly engaged in military conflict with its Arab neighbors.

Iran, sharing a long border with Iraq, also differed from Iraq because the Shah saw Iraq's leadership as a direct threat to its security and regional ambitions.

An enemy of an enemy is a friend, and the adage was laying the groundwork for the most protected alliance in modern, post-World War 1 Middle Eastern history.

Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, and Iran's secret police, Savak, gave full support to Kurdish rebels against the Iraqi government. This was instrumental in damaging and weakening the Kurdish revolutionary Iraqi government.

In 1958, a tripartite intelligence alliance called Trident was formed and included Turkey. In short, Trident was a non-Arab alliance and the three nations exchanged critical intelligence and participated in joint counter-intelligence operations.

Over time, Israel and Iran developed close ties that went beyond military and intelligence ties.

The Shah of Iran desperately wanted to get closer to the USA, and Israel was the perfect ship to sail. Growing Iran-Iranian relations became a key feature of Iran's policy of rapprochement with the West, and as a result, a permanent Israeli delegation was established in Tehran by the mid-1960s, functioning as the de facto Israeli embassy in Iran.

It culminated with the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.