Since its inception in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has upheld a policy of absolute enmity toward the State of Israel. This hostility is not merely tactical or symbolic—it is existential, ideological, and deeply embedded in the Islamic Republic’s revolutionary identity. The regime’s anti-Israel posture has shaped its foreign policy, military strategy, regional alliances, and internal legitimacy. But to truly understand this stance, we must examine the historical, cultural, and political forces that have driven and sustained this enmity for more than four decades.
Islamism as Anti-Western Resistance
The Islamic Republic was born from an anti-imperialist revolution. The 1979 overthrow of the Shah was not only a rejection of monarchy but also perceived foreign domination, chiefly by the United States and Israel. During the Pahlavi era, Iran had close cooperation with Israel, sharing intelligence and military ties.
For Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers, this alliance represented everything corrupt: secularism, imperialism, and Zionism. The new Shi'a theocracy reoriented Iran’s identity around religious opposition to perceived Western hegemony. Israel, as a Western-aligned Jewish state in a Muslim region, became an ideological enemy.
Khomeini drew upon Islamic narratives of resistance, including battles between the Prophet Muhammad and Jewish tribes, to reinforce this religiously framed hostility. The Palestinian cause was elevated as sacred, casting Israel as a permanent enemy and focal point of revolutionary resistance.
Theological and Ideological Foundations: Sacred Enmity
Though Iran’s leaders often frame their opposition as political, the theological underpinning is clear. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei frequently cites Quranic verses to justify hostility toward the “Zionist regime,” drawing on Shi’a eschatology where Jerusalem plays a role in the final divine confrontation.
Central to the regime's worldview is the Karbala paradigm: martyrdom, resistance, and divine justice. Israel is symbolically cast as the Yazid of modern times—the archetype of tyranny in Shi’a Islam. Thus, resisting Israel is both political and spiritually redemptive.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has deliberately de-emphasized its pre-Islamic Persian heritage, favoring a pan-Islamist narrative rooted in Sharia law and anti-Zionism. This ideology has replaced cultural plurality with a religious binary that pits the Islamic Republic against the Jewish state as a cosmic adversary.
Anti-Zionism is institutionalized through national rituals like Quds Day, held annually on the last Friday of Ramadan. State-sponsored rallies, chants of “Death to Israel,” and propaganda in schools indoctrinate successive generations with anti-Israel sentiment as a sacred duty.
The War on Israel as Regime Survival Strategy
The Islamic Republic’s war on Israel is not only ideological—it is existential. The regime relies on permanent enmity to maintain internal cohesion and legitimacy. Israel, as a democratic, Western, and militarily advanced state, embodies everything the Islamic Republic opposes.
This strategy serves key regime objectives:
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Unifying internal factions through a common external enemy.
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Justifying the militarization and funding of proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas.
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Positioning Iran as the leader of the so-called "axis of resistance."
The regime equates compromise with ideological collapse. Any engagement with Israel would undermine the theological and revolutionary foundations of the Islamic Republic itself.
Ideology Over Diplomacy
From its founding, the regime adopted a worldview that saw the U.S. as the “Great Satan” and Israel as the “Little Satan.” In 1980, Khomeini declared, “Israel must be wiped off the map.” While the translation has been debated, the sentiment is consistent: Israel is considered a colonial usurper and illegitimate entity.
Iranian leaders avoid using the term “Israel,” referring instead to the “Zionist regime.” This strategic language:
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Avoids legitimizing Israel as a state.
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Frames Israel as a political ideology, not a nation.
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Shields the regime from accusations of anti-Semitism.
In reality, state media often blur the distinction, mixing anti-Zionist rhetoric with anti-Semitic tropes, reinforcing deep-rooted hostility.
Proxy Warfare: Ideological Warfare by Other Means
The Islamic Republic has waged a decades-long shadow war against Israel through its proxies. These include Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and various Shi'a militias in Syria and Iraq. The late Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani embodied this strategy, stating:
“We are closer than ever to wiping out the Zionist regime.”
This network forms the backbone of Iran’s extraterritorial military doctrine—a regional security system justified by religious resistance and aimed at surrounding and pressuring Israel.
The Quds Force: Tehran’s Regional Vanguard
The Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' extraterritorial wing, operationalizes Iran’s ideological war. It has roughly 17,000–21,000 personnel and receives an estimated $175–250 million annually. It conducts arms transfers, trains militias, and manages covert operations in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Gaza, and Yemen.
Units like Unit 18000 (arms logistics) and Unit 700 (covert aid) ensure strategic depth for Iran across the Levant. Its funding often comes through oil revenues, illicit trade, and clandestine banking channels such as China’s Kunlun Bank.
More than just a military branch, the Quds Force is the regime’s tool for constructing a regional order with Iran as its nucleus—not through diplomacy, but through covert militarism cloaked in sacred ideology.
Political Instrumentalization: A Tool for Repression
Internally, the regime uses anti-Israel rhetoric to deflect attention from its failures. During economic crises, mass protests, or international scrutiny, leaders amplify hostility toward Israel to unify factions and suppress dissent.
Labeling dissidents as “Zionist agents” or accusing reformists of supporting normalization serves as a pretext for arrests and censorship. The regime’s survival increasingly relies on external enmity as a substitute for internal legitimacy.
Regional Realities: Isolation Through Inflexibility
The Islamic Republic’s rigid anti-Israel stance is now at odds with a changing Middle East. The Abraham Accords, Saudi-Israeli normalization talks, and shifting alliances in the Gulf have left Iran diplomatically isolated.
Meanwhile, internal dissent is growing. Many Iranians see the regime’s obsession with Israel as a costly distraction from economic hardship and lack of freedoms. Theological justifications are losing resonance, particularly among young people and secular segments of society.
The End of Anti-Israel Foreign Policy?
The Islamic Republic’s anti-Israel stance is not merely a policy—it is central to its identity. Rooted in theology, ideology, and political survival, this enmity has long served as a pillar of the regime’s legitimacy. Yet that foundation is now eroding. The 12-day war between Iran and Israel marked a turning point, exposing the regime’s vulnerabilities. As regional and global dynamics shift, the Islamic Republic’s rigid hostility toward Israel appears increasingly anachronistic—not only on the international stage, but also within its ranks, including among IRGC officers and once-loyal hardline Islamists.
Whether through internal revolution or systemic collapse, any meaningful political transformation in Iran is likely to challenge the Islamic Republic’s entrenched hostility toward Israel. A future Iranian state—secular, democratic, and regionally integrated—may move beyond enmity, recognizing Israel and pursuing peace. Until that day arrives, however, the Islamic Republic’s war against Israel remains a defining pillar of its theocratic foundation.
Dr. Fariba Parsa holds a Ph.D. in social science, specializing in Iranian politics with a focus on political Islam, democracy, and human rights. She is the author of Fighting for Change in Iran: The Women, Life, Freedom Philosophy against Political Islam. Dr. Parsa is also the founder and president of Women's E-Learning in Leadership (WELL), a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women in Iran and Afghanistan through online leadership education and training.
