Another country has entered the Hamas-Israel War with Iran launching over 290 ballistic missiles and drones at Israel in support of Palestine. 

Tensions between Iran and Israel date back to the 1979 Iranian revolution, where the US supported leader Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was overthrown, leading to the instatement of the Islamic republic. (Britannica) The Islamic Republic was not in support of Israel, severing all ties with the nation as soon as they came into power and not recognizing Israel as a legitimate state despite being an avid supporter before the revolution. One of the main goals of the new republic was to, “stand up to ‘arrogant’ world powers”, including the US and Israel, which they referred to as the great and little Satan. (NPR)  

Despite this rivalry dating back many decades, there hasn’t been any attacks from either nation until the recent attacks from Iran; however, the two countries have sabotaged each other in many ways. Israel’s main target has been Iran’s nuclear arms program. (NPR) Israel has launched various digital attacks on Iran’s uranium storage, a vital material in making nuclear arms. The US has backed Israel in these efforts, instating many sanctions limiting the amount of uranium imported into Iran. 

Iran has fought back against Israel’s nuclear restrictions through supporting a number of smaller armed groups that target Israel and the US, most notably Hamas and Hezbollah. These militant groups have attacked Israel in various ways, such as the Houthi rebels firing missiles on an Israeli coastal town and Hezbollah launching a drone attack on Israel. 

In spite of these many aggressions between these two countries, there hasn’t been any major conflict until April 13th. Iran launched an attack on Israel with over 170 missiles and 120 drones in response to Israel allegedly attacking Iran’s diplomatic complex in Syria. Israel didn’t have an immediate response but was urged by other major world powers to not take action. Israel attacking Iran and possibly starting an even larger war would only increase the amount of conflict and tension in the Middle East and would have detrimental impacts on the civilians in each country, as seen in the Israel Hamas war. Israel responded with a few missiles, saying that they, “abandoned plans for a much more extensive counter strike on Iran after concerted diplomatic pressure”(NYT). 

Informational video about the history of these two countries-