The two nations were partners until the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, which installed a regime that has made hating Israel a central aspect of its philosophy.
Iran rejects Israel’s right to exist and aims to eradicate it.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s top leader, has previously referred to Israel as a “cancerous tumour” that “will undoubtedly be uprooted and destroyed”.
Israel believes Iran poses an existential threat, as evidenced by Tehran’s rhetoric, the formation of proxy forces sworn to destroy Israel, the funding and arming of Palestinian groups such as Hamas and the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah, and what it believes is Iran’s covert pursuit of nuclear weapons, despite Iran’s denials.
Iran launched drones and missiles toward Israel in revenge for a fatal attack on its consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus.
