Historical context and questions to explore
Under the Shah, Iran’s monarch, there was a quiet alliance between Israel and Iran: oil, trade, advisers and security cooperation, and an Israeli mission in Tehran with no sign on the door. A shared fear drew the two countries together — of radical Arab nationalism and of the Soviet Union.
The tie stayed unofficial, with no embassy and no declared recognition. In 1978 Mohammad Reza Shah PahlaviThe Shah of Iran, 1941–1979; overthrown in the Islamic Revolution.More on Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in “People and events” →’s regime began to totter, and early in 1979 it fell.
Why it mattered. That alliance collapsed in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and Iran became Israel’s bitterest enemy. Gazit saw both sides: the tie at its height in 1966, and Khomeini, on his way to power, in the Paris of 1978.
A question to think about
How do you judge, from the inside, how stable an ally is when it will not admit to the relationship?
Why it was hard. Iran wanted the benefits of the relationship without paying a visible price in the Muslim world, so every contact required judgement about what was said, to whom and through which channel.
His part: As head of the Foreign Ministry’s Middle East department, Gazit analysed the quiet tie with the Shah’s Iran in 1966, and spoke with its prime minister.
In February 1966, as head of the Foreign Ministry’s Middle East Department, Gazit wrote a survey of the economic, military and intelligence ties that already existed with Iran. Both the journalist Eitay Mack and the historian Uri BialerA historian of Israel’s foreign policy.More on Uri Bialer in “People and events” → cite it; Mack places those ties within Israel’s support for Mohammad Reza Shah PahlaviThe Shah of Iran, 1941–1979; overthrown in the Islamic Revolution.More on Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in “People and events” →’s regime and awareness of its repression.
Gazit also spoke with Iran’s prime minister, Amir-Abbas Hoveyda, about the proposed “Islamic alliance”, and reported on the conversation in a letter of 6 March 1966.
More than a decade later, the Iranian crisis also reached his desk in Paris. On 30 November 1978 Gazit reported from Paris on Ruhollah KhomeiniA Shiite cleric, leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran; returned to Iran from exile in February 1979.More on Ruhollah Khomeini in “People and events” →’s arrival in France and continuing political propaganda. Between those two points, 1966 and 1978, the tie with Iran went from its height to its collapse, and Gazit stood at both.Diplomatic recordEitay Mack — Israel and Iran under the Shah (Hebrew)Diplomatic recordEitay Mack — The unwritten history of Israel’s alliance with the Shah’s dictatorshipDiplomatic recordUri Bialer — Fuel Bridge across the Middle East: Israel, Iran, and the Eilat-Ashkelon Oil PipelineDiplomatic recordRaz Zimmt — Iran and the Arab regionDiplomatic recordEldad Ben Aharon — Israel–Iran relations and the 1979 revolution
Sources and reading notes (5)
The lead source
Uri Bialer — Fuel Bridge across the Middle East: Israel, Iran, and the Eilat-Ashkelon Oil Pipeline ↗2007 study, p. 36, notes 12 and 22: Gazit to the Foreign Ministry, 23 February 1966, ISA 3998/6.
- Diplomatic Records[I5] Raz Zimmt — Iran and the Arab region ↗
INSS, 2024, p. 27, note 66: Gazit’s letter of 6 March 1966.
- Diplomatic Records[I6] Eldad Ben Aharon — Israel–Iran relations and the 1979 revolution ↗
European Journal of International Security 9(1), 2024, p. 116, note 101. Gazit’s dispatch from Paris, 30 November 1978.
- Diplomatic Records[I1] Eitay Mack — Israel and Iran under the Shah (Hebrew) ↗
Local Call, 17 June 2019. On the secret alliance between Israel and the Shah’s Iran, quoting Gazit’s 1966 survey.
- Diplomatic Records[I3] Eitay Mack — The unwritten history of Israel’s alliance with the Shah’s dictatorship ↗
+972 Magazine, 24 June 2019. I1 in English.
- Diplomatic Records[I4] Uri Bialer — Fuel Bridge across the Middle East: Israel, Iran, and the Eilat-Ashkelon Oil Pipeline ↗
2007 study, p. 36, notes 12 and 22: Gazit to the Foreign Ministry, 23 February 1966, ISA 3998/6.