page_title: Iran–Israel relations
section_title: Israeli independence to Iranian revolution (1947–79)
hierarchical_section_title: Iran–Israel relations / Timeline of relations / Israeli independence to Iranian revolution (1947–79)
caption_attribution_description: English: Original Description: Persian minister Saffinia arrving at the home of president Haim Weizmann in Rehovot, on independence day. עברית: ציר איראן בישראל, רזא סאפיניה, מגיע לבית הנשיא חיים ויצמן ברחובות ביום העצמאות, 1950. Русский: Иранский дипломат Реза Сафиния прибывает в резиденцию президента Израиля, 1950 год
context_page_description: Iran–Israel relations can be divided into four major phases: the period from 1947–53, the friendly period during the era of the Pahlavi dynasty, the worsening period from the 1979 Iranian Revolution to 1990, and finally the hostility since the end of the First Gulf War. In 1947, Iran was among 13 countries that voted against the UN Partition Plan for Palestine. Two years later, Iran also voted against Israel's admission to the United Nations.
  Nevertheless, Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel as a sovereign state after Turkey. After the 1953 coup d'état, which re-installed pro-Western Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to power, relations between the two countries significantly improved.
  After the 1979 Revolution, Iran severed all diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel, and its Islamic government does not recognize the legitimacy of Israel as a state. The turn from cold peace to hostility started in the early 1990s, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union and defeat of the Iraqi Army during Desert Storm, after which relative power in the Middle East shifted towards Iran and Israel.
context_section_description: In 1947, Iran was one of the eleven nations selected to form a Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) to recommend a resolution to the issue of the Palestine Mandate. After much deliberation the committee presented a Partition plan for Palestine, which had the support of eight out of eleven members of the committee. Iran along with India and Yugoslavia opposed the plan, predicting it would lead to an escalation of violence. Maintaining that peace could only be established through a single federal state, Iran voted against the partition plan when it was adopted by the UN General Assembly. The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, predicted that the partition would lead to generations of fighting.
  From the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 until the Iranian Revolution and the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979, Israel and Iran maintained close ties. Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel as a sovereign state after Turkey. Israel viewed Iran as a natural ally as a non-Arab power on the edge of the Arab world, in accordance with David Ben Gurion's concept of an alliance of the periphery. Israel had a permanent delegation in Tehran which served as a de facto embassy, before Ambassadors were exchanged in the late 1970s.
  After the Six-Day War, Iran supplied Israel with a significant portion of its oil needs and Iranian oil was shipped to European markets via the joint Israeli-Iranian Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline. Brisk trade between the countries continued until 1979, with Israeli construction firms and engineers active in Iran. El Al, the Israeli national airline, operated direct flights between Tel Aviv and Tehran. Iranian-Israeli military links and projects were kept secret, but they are believed to have been wide-ranging, for example the joint military project Project Flower (1977–79), an Iranian-Israeli attempt to develop a new missile.
caption: Iranian minister Reza Saffinia arriving at the house of Israeli president Chaim Weizmann in Rehovot on Yom Ha'atzmaut, 1950.
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