From 1979 to 2024: Retracing decades of enmity between Iran and Israel

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00:00 1948 and the State of Israel is created.

00:03 And two years later, Iran, under Prime Minister Mohamed Mossadegh, became the second Muslim

00:09 nation to recognise Israel after Turkey.

00:12 However, Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution transformed previously cordial relations between the two

00:19 countries into fierce hostility, with Iran siding with the Palestinians and criticising

00:24 Israel's proximity to the US.

00:27 Tensions rose further in 2005 with the election of the ultra-conservative President Mahmoud

00:32 Ahmadinejad, who often used public appearances to criticise Israel.

00:37 "They consider Zionism to be a sacred notion and ideology.

00:43 Any question regarding its foundations in history is condemned by them as an unforgivable

00:48 sin.

00:49 On the other hand, they approve and authorise sacrilegies and insults against the beliefs

00:54 of other divine religions."

00:58 The next few years would see little improvement as Ahmadinejad kick-started the country's

01:02 nuclear programme again, which Israel repeatedly targeted with cyber-attacks.

01:06 "We should not underestimate the Iranians.

01:11 I spoke about their centrifuges.

01:14 Iran is a real threat, not only to Israel, but also to the world order."

01:21 Iran is also accused of backing terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

01:25 The latter began taking an active role in Syria's civil war around 2017, allegedly at

01:30 Tehran's behest.

01:32 At that point, Iran considered Israel as a threat to the Middle East as a whole.

01:38 "This cancerous tumour, since its beginning, has evolved step by step and has become a

01:45 catastrophe and it should be dealt with step by step."

01:54 Once allies, Israeli-Iranian relations have further degraded after Hamas's October 7 attacks

02:00 on Israel.

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