Policy of Iran towards Israel

The pursuit of the destruction of Israel is the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.[1] The policy is opposite to that of the Pahlavi dynasty (1925–1979)[2] – friendly with Israel until 1979.[3]

Overview

Further information: Neo-Nazism and Islam and fascism

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic's founder, called Israel an illegitimate "Zionist regime" and severed ties with Israel. Both Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Khamenei have called Israel a "cancerous tumor". Their rhetoric is backed by "reformist" clerics. Despite Iranian leaders claiming to be "anti-Zionist", their propaganda has promoted Holocaust denial with antisemitic tropes.[1][4]

State-sponsored Holocaust denial

Further information: Holocaust denial

In December 2006, the Iranian regime held a Holocaust-denying conference, which invited foreign Neo-Nazis, including David Duke,[5] who repeated the Iranian official claim: "Zionists weaponizing the Holocaust to deny the rights of the Palestinians [...] The Holocaust [...] is the pillar of Zionist imperialism, Zionist aggression, Zionist terror and Zionist murder."[5]

The view is shared by Polish nationalists, including Grzegorz Braun, who also accused Jews of being the "enemies of Poland" trying to "take over Poland[6] [...] turn Poles into slaves and subhumans as Nazi Germans did".[7] His views are also held by many Western "anti-Zionists".[8]

Supreme Leaders

Ruhollah Khomeini

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had called Israel a "cancerous tumor" before he died.[9] Khomeini called it "an obligation" to sponsor the Palestinian mujahideen "in order to abolish the infidel Zionists, who are the enemies of humanity".[9] He urged Muslims to topple pro-Western governments to pursue Israel's destruction.[10]

Ali Khamenei

2013

In 2013, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called Israel "an illegitimate regime" led by "untouchable rabid dogs" and "doomed to failure and annihilation".[11]

2015

In 2015, he said that there would be "no Zionist regime in 25 years" and that "during this period, the spirit of fighting, heroism and jihad will keep [Israel] worried every moment".[12]

2023

On October 3, 2023 – four days before the Hamas-led October 7 attacks – Khamenei said that Israel would "die of [its] rage" [...] be eradicated, God willing, at the hands of the Palestinian people and the resistance forces throughout the region."[2] In 2024, Ali Khamenei told Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh: "The divine promise to eliminate the Zionist entity will be fulfilled and we will see the day when Palestine will rise from the river to the sea".[13]

Presidents

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that the detonation of a single nuclear weapon inside Israel "will annihilate the entire country"[a].[14] In 2006, at the World Without Zionism conference, then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invoked a quote from Ayatollah Khomeini calling for Israel to be "erased from the face of the earth"[b].[14] He also declared the Holocaust a myth that Israel considers "above God, religion and the prophets".[15] In 2007, he said that Iran would "witness the destruction of this regime in the near future".[16]

Hassan Rouhani

At the 2018 annual Islamic Unity Conference, ex-President Hassan Rouhani, called Israel a "cancerous tumor" and a "fake regime created by Western powers to serve their interests in the Middle East". In 2023, then-President Ebrahim Raisi said that he hoped for God to "liberate Palestine as soon as possible" and that Iran could "witness the final moments of Israel's existence and celebrate its end".[17]

Military commanders

Ali Fadavi

Following the October 7 attacks, Ali Fadavi, the IRGC deputy commander-in-chief, said: "The resistance front's shocks against the Zionist regime will continue until this 'cancerous tumor' is eradicated from the world map."[18]

Hojatoleslam Ali Shirazi

In 2013, Hojatoleslam Ali Shirazi, representative of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said: "The Zionist regime will soon be destroyed, and this generation will be witness to its destruction."[19]

Hossein Salami

2014

In 2014, Hossein Salami, then IRGC's deputy commander, issued a series of aggressive statements against Israel. He threatened direct retaliation "for every drop of blood of our martyrs in Palestine, and this is the beginning point of Islamic nations awakening for your defeat".[19] He also said that "the Zionist regime is slowly being erased from the world", and predicted that "soon, there will be no such thing as the Zionist regime on Planet Earth".[19]

2019

In 2019, he stated: "This sinister regime must be wiped off the map and this is no longer [...] a dream (but) it is an achievable goal."[20]

Hossein Sheikholeslam

Hossein Sheikholeslam, then secretary-general of Iran's Committee for Support for the Palestinian Intifada, also stated that "the issue of Israel's destruction is important, no matter the method" and warned that "the region will not be quiet so long as Israel exists in it."[19]

Clerics

Ahmad Alamolhoda

In 2013, Ahmad Alamolhoda, a member of the Assembly of Experts, called the destruction of Israel "one of the pillars of the Iranian Islamic regime", saying: "We cannot claim that we have no intention of going to war with Israel."[19]

Hussein-Ali Montazeri

Hussein-Ali Montazeri, a "reformist" once designated as Khomeini's successor, recalled telling a delegation of "reformist" parliamentarians that the Jews of Zionism[c] would be afflicted with torment and misery until the Day of Resurrection[d].[14] He also cited a 17th-century hadith from Bihar al-Anwar|Biḥār al-Anwār in which Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq reportedly said that those who would ultimately exterminate the Jews[e] would be "the people of Qom", referring to the Iranian Shi'ite clergy.[14]

Mohammad Hassan Rahimian

In 2010, Mohammad Hassan Rahimian, Khamenei's representative to the Mostazafan Foundation, stated that Iran possesses missile capabilities that would allow it to destroy Israel "in its entirety with a big holocaust."[19] Ayatollah Mohammad Musavi-e Bojnurdi, a senior jurist of the "reformist" Iranian Green Movement, declared "no room for friendly relations with Israel."[14]

Military strategy

Axis of Resistance

Iran calls its alliance with non-state actors ‒ including the Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Palestine, and the Houthis in Yemen ‒ the Axis of Resistance. American scholar Afshon Ostovar said that the aim of this network is to present Israel with a long-term existential challenge by "slowly strangling" it through a series of "increasingly destructive, unwinnable wars."[1]

Sponsorship of Palestinian jihadism

Dana H. Allin said that Iran had backed Palestinian suicide attacks.[21] The October 7 attacks, which saw the slaughter of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 250 hostages, was an Iranian strategy.[1]

The Wall Street Journal interviewed senior Hamas and Hezbollah members, who disclosed IRGC's planning of the attacks in an October 2 meeting in Beirut.[22] About 500 Hamas and PIJ terrorists were reportedly trained by the IRGC.[22] It was revealed that the attacks occurred "with key support from [Iran] who provided military training and logistical help as well as tens of millions of dollars for weapons".[23]

Following Yahya Sinwar's death in an Israeli airstrike, a mural appeared in Tehran bearing the message "The storm of Sinwar will continue" in reference to Al-Aqsa Storm, the codename of the October 7 attacks.[24]

Nuclear program

The destruction of Israel is one of goals of Iran's nuclear pogram.[21][25]

Academic views

Abdollah Nouri

Abdollah Nouri, a prominent cleric and former interior minister, was sentenced to five years of imprisonment in 1999, allegedly for opposing Khomeini's doctrine that Israel must be obliterated.[15]

Afshon Ostovar

Afshon Ostovar said that Iran's campaign against Israel constituted "the single most destabilizing conflict in the Middle East" and carried "the greatest potential to cause a broader regional war".[1]

Efraim Karsh

Efraim Karsh, a British–Israeli historian of Middle Eastern politics, has called Iran's posture toward Israel genocidal.[4]

Sadegh Zibakalam

Sadegh Zibakalam, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Tehran, has opposed such aggressive policies, saying that the Iranian public, especially the younger generation, is losing interest in the Palestinian cause, some of whom even support Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Such support does not come from pro-US or pro-Israel sentiment, but from rejection of the Iranian regime and its associated terrorist groups. Due to his statements, Zibakalam was jailed for 18 months. As of March 2025, he was investigated again, potentially facing further jail time.[26]

Ze'ev Magen

Ze'ev Magen said that Death to Israel[f] and Death to America had been used by Iranian officials for over 25 years.[27] He added that the call for Jerusalem's conquest is depicted as a unifying jihad redirecting Sunni opposition away from Shi'ite Iran by making Iran the vanguard of global Islamic resistance.[14]

Public views

Israeli lawmakers generally supported the strikes on Iran in June 2025. Amit Halevy, a Likud lawmaker, compared the Iranian regime to the Nazi regime:[28]

Eighty years ago, it was the Nazi regime; today, it’s the Iranian regime. We must take responsibility for our generation and for future generations [...] We must not compromise with them, just as agreements with Hitler did not work.

  • An Iranian F-14 Tomcat fighter jet on display in Isfahan bearing the slogan "Down with Israel" next to the word "Expired" (2019)
  • The slogan "Israel must be wiped off the face of the earth" inscribed on a Shahab-2 missile displayed in Mashhad (2019)
  • The slogan "Israel will not see more than five years into the future" inscribed on a missile during the Sacred Defense Week exhibition in Mashhad (2019)
  • Children posing with an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Quds Day parade in Qom (2015)
  • Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the Iranian newspaper Kayhan, stepping on an Israeli flag at Amirkabir University of Technology (2015)

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Persian: hame-ye Esra'il ra nabud khahad kard
  2. ↑ Persian: mahv-e Esra'il az safhe-ye ruzegar
  3. ↑ Persian: yahudiyan-e sahyonizm
  4. ↑ Judgment Day in Islam
  5. ↑ Persian: kasani keh nehayatan yahud ra monqarez mikonand
  6. ↑ Persian: marg bar Esra'il

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Ostovar, Afshon (2024). Wars of Ambition: the United States, Iran, and the Struggle for the Middle East. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-19-094098-0. The simmering conflict between Iran and Israel, which is driven by the Islamic Republic's aim of destroying Israel as a Jewish entity, fuels the Palestinian crisis, and reverberates across the region and beyond, also features heavily and is the focus of the book's latter section. [...] Iran sought [...] an end to America's dominance and to Israel's existence as a Jewish state. Those had been Iran's goals since the 1979 revolution.
    [...]
    Fifth, the Islamic Republic of Iran's campaign against Israel is the single most destabilizing conflict in the Middle East, and the one with the greatest potential to cause a broader regional war. The goal of constructing an existential challenge to the State of Israel is the driving motivation behind Iran's involvement in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and the West Bank, and also figures prominently in its support to clients in Iraq and Yemen. Iran has aimed to slowly strangle Israel by keeping it mired in a series of increasingly destructive, unwinnable wars through funneling advanced weaponry and financial backing to groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. That aggression has compelled Israel to pursue a retaliatory campaign. Because of the wide geography where the Iranian–Israeli conflict has played out, and because of the United States' deep commitments to Israel and correspondingly hostile relations with Iran, an outbreak of open war between Iran and Israel could encompass much of the region and draw in U.S. involvement.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Maloney, Suzanne (2024-12-10). "The Middle East's Dangerous New Normal: Iran, Israel, and the Delicate Balance of Disorder". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2025-06-06.
  3. ↑ Furlan, Marta (March 4, 2022). "Israeli-Iranian relations: past friendship, current hostility". Israel Affairs. 28 (2): 170–183. doi:10.1080/13537121.2022.2041304.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Karsh, Efraim (2023-11-02). "The Israel-Iran conflict: between Washington and Beijing". Israel Affairs. 29 (6): 1075–1076. doi:10.1080/13537121.2023.2269694. ISSN 1353-7121.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Iranian leader says Israel will be 'wiped out'". NBC News. December 11, 2006. Retrieved February 27, 2025.
  6. ↑ "Far-right Polish MP Just Took a Fire Extinguisher to a Menorah in Parliament". VICE. December 12, 2023. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Polish parliament celebrates Hanukkah amid far-right protest outside". Notes from Poland. December 30, 2024. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  8. ↑ Gillott, Hannah (August 20, 2024). "Online antisemites' new frontier? The Talmud". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved March 25, 2025.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Reda, Latife (2016-04-02). "Origins of the Islamic Republic's Strategic Approaches to Power and Regional Politics: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict in Khomeini's Discourse". Middle East Critique. 25 (2): 15, 19, 20. doi:10.1080/19436149.2016.1141587. ISSN 1943-6149.
  10. ↑ Ḫalaǧī, Mahdī (2023). The Regent of Allah: Ali Khamenei's Political Evolution in Iran. Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 8, 59, 183. ISBN 978-1-5381-8752-4.
  11. ↑ Freilich, Charles David (2018). Israeli National Security: A New Strategy for an Era of Change. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 37. ISBN 978-0-19-060293-2.
  12. ↑ Erdbrink, Thomas (2015-09-09). "Iran's Supreme Leader Says Israel Won't Exist in 25 Years". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-06-04.
  13. ↑ "Iran's Khamenei tells visiting Hamas chief that Israel 'will one day be eliminated'". The Times of Israel. 2024-05-23. Archived from the original on 2024-06-02. Retrieved 2024-06-02.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 Magen, Ze'ev (2023). Reading revolutionary Iran: the worldview of the Islamic republic's religio-political elite. Studies on Modern Orient. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. p. 199. ISBN 978-3-11-101810-2.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Arjomand, Said Amir (2009). After Khomeini: Iran under his successors. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 157. ISBN 978-0-19-539179-4.
  16. ↑ "Iran president sees "countdown" to Israel's end". Reuters. 2007-08-09.
  17. ↑ "Iranian President Repeats Calls For Rapid End To Israel". Iran International. 2023-11-19. Retrieved 2025-06-05.
  18. ↑ Hafezi, Parisa (2023-10-17). "Iran's Khamenei says Israel must halt assault on Palestinians in Gaza". Reuters.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 Goldberg, Jeffrey (2015-03-09). "The Iranian Regime on Israel's Right to Exist". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2025-06-05.
  20. ↑ "Top Iran General Says Destroying Israel 'Achievable Goal'". Voice of America. 2019-09-30. Retrieved 2025-06-14.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Allin, Dana H.; Simon, Steven (2010). The sixth crisis: Iran, Israel, America, and the rumors of war. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 34. ISBN 978-0-19-975449-6.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Said, Summer; Faucon, Benoit; Kalin, Stephen. "WSJ News Exclusive | Iran Helped Plot Attack on Israel Over Several Weeks". WSJ. Archived from the original on 2023-10-08. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
  23. ↑ "Hamas received weapons and training from Iran, officials say". The Washington Post. October 9, 2023. Archived from the original on October 12, 2023. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  24. ↑ Fassihi, Farnaz (2024-10-25). "Murals in Tehran Offer Tributes and Threats Against Israel". The New York Times.
  25. ↑ Sharma, Anu (2022). Through the looking glass: Iran and its foreign relations. London & New York, New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-032-23149-5.
  26. ↑ Azizi, Arash (2025-03-12). "The Iranian Dissident Asking Simple Questions". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2025-06-05.
  27. ↑ "Iranian protesters unveil clock showing 8,411 days until the end of Israel". The Independent. 2017-06-26. Retrieved 2025-06-04.
  28. ↑ "'Eighty years ago, it was the Nazi regime; today, it's the Iranian regime'". Jewish News Syndicate. June 15, 2025.
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