May 29, 2025- Syria and Israel are reportedly in ‘deconflict’ talks prompted by Saudi Arabia and the U.S seeking reduction of Syrian-Israeli tension, and undermining further previously hostile anti-Israel Syrian-Iranian alliance.
May 28, 2025 – Israel attacks Houthi controlled Sana, Yemen airport in retaliation for Houthi drone attacks against Israel earlier in May and April 2025. Supreme Leader International Affairs Adviser Ali Akbar Velayati met with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) representative to Iran, Nasser Abu Sharif and Hamas representative to Iran Khaled Qaddoumi in Tehran on May 28. Velayati reiterated Iran’s longstanding objective to destroy the state of Israel by using proxy groups. Sharif stated on May 14 that Iran has continued to fund PIJ. Velayati also praised the Houthis for their continued attacks targeting Israel.
May 26, 2025 – Israel is reported prepared to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, while President Trump announces at the end of the month, that the US and Iran are close to a ‘deal’ on Iran’s nuclear weapons development in exchange for $6 billion in Iranian funds held by the US, that was not returned as part of US reactions to the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2025.
May 14, 2025 – New Syrian Leader, Ahmed al- Sharaa meets with President Trump, further pushing Syria’s leader into consideration if not mild embrace of allying with the US and Saudi Arabia, distinctly assisting Israel to eliminate Iranian connections to Syria.
February 4, 2025 – President Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum which directs U.S. officials to impose “maximum pressure” on Iran to compel it to abandon its nuclear program and support for terrorist groups. It also directs the imposition and enforcement of sanctions, issuance of guidance to industry, pursuit of Iran’s diplomatic isolation, and legal steps against Iranian activities inside the United States.
December 6, 2024 – Syrian Bashar Assad falls from power, further crippling Iran’s overland pathway of arms supplies to its paid fighters in Syria, and cutting arms supplies to Iran’s Hezbollah client in Lebanon. Ahmed al-Sharaa, the new Syrian leader, with Saudi support seeks to wind down Syrian antagonism toward Israel, sustained by all Syrian regimes since Israel establishment in 1948.
October 26, 2024 — In reprisal for Iran’s October 1 ballistic missile attack, Israel carries out an attack on dozens of sites across Iran, targeting air defense batteries, military-industrial plants, and the Revolutionary Guard’s missile bases and depots.
October 4, 2024 – Iranian leader Khamenei stipulates unwavering commitment to destroy Israel, expressing sadness at death of Hussein Nasrallah,
October 1, 2024 — In revenge for Israel’s assassination of two of Iran’s most favored clients, Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, Iran fires 181 ballistic missiles at Israel. Besides being the second-ever direct Iranian attack against Israel, the Iranian bombardment is the single largest ballistic missile attack in history.
September 27, 2024 — The IDF assassinates the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah. Because of the value of this target, the elimination of Nasrallah stands among the most successful targeted killings in Israeli history.
September 17 and 18, 2024 – Killing dozens and wounding thousands, Israeli intelligence detonates thousands of pagers and handheld radios purchased by Hezbollah and booby-trapped with explosives.
April 19, 2024 — In retaliation for the Iranian attack a week earlier and under American pressure to avoid an escalation that could lead to all-out war, Israel carries out a limited airstrike in central Iran against the radar of Iran’s vaunted Russian-supplied S-300 air defense system. The precision strike was intended to signal to Iran that Israel can attack Iranian installations while evading detection.
April 13, 2024 — Iran launches some 350 attack drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Israel, nearly all intercepted. The volley, retaliation for Israel’s strikes in Syria some two weeks earlier,
is the first major direct Iranian attack against Israel in the Islamic Republic’s 45-year war against the Jewish state.
April 1, 2024 — Israel mounts airstrikes against the Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, killing seven, including the general responsible for Tehran’s operations in Syria and Lebanon.
October 8, 2024 — Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, begins rocketing northern Israel, thereby joining the war launched the day before by its ally, Hamas.
October 7, 2023 — In the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Hamas invades Israel and massacres some 1,200 Israelis. Iran helped plan the attack and financed, trained, and armed its perpetrators.
October 2, 2023 — Iranian representatives, meeting with Hezbollah and Hamas operatives in Beirut, green-light the latter’s upcoming surprise attack against Israel and appoints the date, October 7.
September 2023 — Five-hundred Palestinians members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad receive specialized combat training in Iran under the direction of the Quds Force.
August 2023 — In preparation for the October 7 attack, the senior leadership of Iran’s Quds Force and, on two occasions, the Iranian foreign minister initiate a routine of biweekly meetings in Beirut with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah, and Hamas’ liaison to Hezbollah and Iran, Saleh al-Arouri.
June 2021 – A month after the 11-day May 2021 Israel-Hamas war, Hamas’ two foremost leaders in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif, address a letter to the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, Esmail Qaani. The two leaders solicit $500 million from Iran to begin preparations for the October 7 attack. Their request is approved by Saeed Izadi, the head of the Palestinian Division in the IRGC.
January 2018 — In a predawn raid in Tehran, some two dozen Mossad operatives break into a repository housing Iran’s nuclear archive, making off with a half-ton trove of documents. The heist results in an intelligence windfall for Israel, as the 50,000 pages of documents tell of Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons between 1999 and 2003.
October 2012 — Israel comes closer than ever before to launching an attack against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. The staunch opposition of President Obama, who was facing reelection, dissuades Israel from proceeding.
July 18, 2012 –- In an Iranian-backed terrorist attack in Burgas, Bulgaria, a suicide bomber from Hezbollah detonates an explosive device on a bus chartered by an Israeli tour company. Six Israelis are killed and dozens injured.
February 2011 — Israel’s “group of eight” refreshes their discussion of an attack on Iran. As happened three months earlier, the proposal is voted down by a margin of five-to-three.
November 2010 — At a meeting at the Mossad headquarters, Israel’s “group of eight” (the octet of the government’s most senior members) discuss whether to authorize strikes against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Five ministers vote against it.
Summer 2010 – A computer virus known as Stuxnet, jointly developed by the U.S. and Israel, is infiltrated into thousands of Iranian computers operating centrifuges for enriching uranium. Incapacitating Iran’s uranium enrichment infrastructure, Israeli-American cyberwarfare proves highly effective.
February 2008 –- Israel assassinates Hezbollah’s chief of staff and its primary liaison to Iran, Imad Mughniyeh. A terrorist mastermind, Mughniyeh had been Hezbollah’s most skilled tactician.
January 2007-November 2020 — The Mossad begins a prolonged campaign to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists and engineers working on the Iranian nuclear program.
2007 — President Bush issues a directive authorizing the CIA to initiate covert action against Iran’s nuclear program. The Mossad and the CIA begin coordinating their sabotage.
September 6, 2007 –- In an action codenamed Operation Orchard, Israel destroys Syria’s nuclear reactor, which Iran had financed to the tune of a billion dollars.
July 12, 2006-August 14, 2006 –- Hezbollah stages a cross-border raid into Israel, launching Israel’s 34-day Second Lebanon War.
2002 –- The Iranian exile group Mojahedin-e-Khalq publishes proof, supplied by Israel, that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
1999 –-Thirteen Jews in the Iranian city of Shiraz are arrested on charges of espionage for Israel. The falsely accused Shirazi Jews are imprisoned for years, the last of their number released in 2003.
July 18, 1994 –- With the involvement of Iran’s most senior officials, a Hezbollah suicide bomber drives a van carrying hundreds of pounds of ammonium nitrate into a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85. Until the October 7 Massacre, this was the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
March 17, 1992 –- With Iranian backing, a Hezbollah suicide bomber drives a pick-up truck laden with explosives into the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing dozens and injuring hundreds.
November 1989 –- Iran and Hamas inaugurate their relationship.
1987 – Iran embarks on its nuclear weapons program.
June 1985 –November 1986 –- In what becomes known as “Iran Contra,” Israel brokers
June 1982 – Iran establishes Hezbollah, dispatching 2,500 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to Lebanon to raise a militia against the Israeli army in Lebanon. Hezbollah is, for all and intents and purposes, an Iranian militia and its territory a forward operating base for Iran.
May 9, 1979 – Iran’s wealthiest and best-known Jew, Habib Elghanian, is executed on bogus charges of spying for Israel.
1979 –- Inspired by the Iranian Revolution, a physician in Gaza named Fathi Shiqaqi publishes a book called Khomeini, The Islamic Solution and the Alternative calling for Sunni-Shia unity. Shiqaqi goes on to found Iran’s most trusted Palestinian client, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
February 17, 1979 – Yasser Arafat arrives in Tehran, becoming the first foreign leader to visit Revolutionary Iran. The building that once housed the Israeli diplomatic mission is turned over to the PLO and repurposed as its embassy.
February 11, 1979 –- After more than a year of protests and disorder, the Iranian Revolution clinches its victory. The Islamic Republic of Iran is officially proclaimed on April 1.
1977 –- Iran and Israel launched Project Flower to develop missile systems. Meanwhile, the Shah helps Egypt and Israel along their path to peace, passing messages between the countries and pressing them to reach an agreement.
1975 –- Yitzhak Rabin agrees to the 1975 disengagement agreement with Egypt after assurance from the Shah: Iran would offset the oil deficit Israel would incur after returning oil fields to Egypt.
1960s and 1970s –- Most of Iran’s waterworks in the 1960s and 1970s are managed by Israelis. The partly state-owned Israeli engineering firm Tahal, which designed Israel’s National Water Carrier, also designed Tehran’s sewage system. The Israeli construction company Solel Boneh builds several neighborhoods and dozens of high rises in Tehran, including the city’s Hilton Hotel. In the employ of these and other companies, thousands of Israelis live in Tehran in the 1970s. Meanwhile, direct El Al airliners regularly travel the skies between Tehran and Tel Aviv.
1968 –- Israel and Iran set up a joint venture in 1968, the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company, with each country holding a 50% stake.
May 1968 –- Iran hosts the Israeli soccer team for an Asian Cup match in Tehran. The Israeli team meets with a torrent of antisemitic invective and Iranian Jews are harassed. Legend has it that the Israeli team threw the match so that an Israeli victory would not be avenged on local Jews.
1958 –- Iran and Israel establish an intelligence-sharing framework called Trident. Under this mechanism, their intelligence communities, along with Turkey’s, coordinated policies and exchanged information, meeting in intelligence summits twice a year but communicating with each other almost daily.
1953 –- Iran begins selling Israel oil, quickly becoming the Jewish state’s largest oil supplier. Iranian oil was all the more precious to Israel after the 1956 war, when the Soviet Union ceased to supply Israel with this vital resource. By the time of the Iranian Revolution, some 70 percent of Israeli oil imports were sourced from Iran.
March 1950 –- Iran recognizes Israel de facto in March 1950, becoming the second Muslim country to do so, but refrains from recognizing Israel de jure (by law). At Iran’s insistence, Israel’s diplomatic representative in Iran did not carry the rank of “ambassador,” nor the Israeli mission the designation of an “embassy.”
1948 –- Iran takes care to be seen as supportive of the Arab belligerents during the First Arab-Israel War. The Iranian government issues statements in favor of Israel’s Arab enemies and donates ambulances for the transport of wounded Arab combatants. Later in the year, Israel, in a gesture of goodwill, deviates from its policy toward displaced persons and grants restitution and permits repatriation to Iranian non-Jews (mostly Bahais) displaced in the war.
May 1948-December 1989 –- A total of 74,148 Jews immigrate to Israel from Iran.
November 29, 1947 –- Iran votes against UNSCOP’s majority report, which calls for the division of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Despite his personal sympathy for Zionism, Nasrollah Entezam is under instructions not to antagonize the Arabs and to vote accordingly. Iran did, however, support the UNSCOP minority report, which envisioned a Arab-Jewish federal state with autonomous cantons for each community.
Mid-1947 –- Iran is one of the 11 countries to serve on the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), the UN body appointed to propose a solution to the Arab-Jewish conflict. UNSCOP’s Iranian representative, Nasrollah Entezam, is one of his country’s most seasoned diplomats. Clearly sympathetic to Zionism, he was overheard deriding the Arab position and remarking that Palestine “could be developed; if it were all given to the Jews, they could turn it into Europe.”
December 15, 1925 –- The Pahlavi Dynasty is established. When the first of the two Pahlavi monarchs comes to power, Iran is an impoverished country with no paved roads, railways, or factories, where half the population was nomadic or semi-nomadic and where literacy was in the single digits and virtually the only schools were missionary institutions. The Pahlavis pull off a feat of breakneck modernization in Iran such that on the eve of the revolution a European standard of living was within the realm of possibility. Iranian Jews are among the foremost beneficiaries of Pahlavi modernization and the prosperity and security it brought with it.
Early 1918 –- The first Zionist societies are established in Iran.
1830s-1890s –- The fortunes of Iranian Jews sink to a nadir, as persecution (massacres and forced conversions) roil throughout the country, devastating the Jewish communities of Shiraz, Tabriz, Mashad, Barfurush, Isfahan, and Hamadan.
1500-1700 – In a slow gradual process that unfolds over two centuries, Iranians convert from Sunni to Shia Islam. For Iranian Jews, the implications of the conversion are dire, as Shia Islam, which is far less tolerant of Jews and other non-Muslims than Sunni Islam, worsens the lot of Iranian Jews.
Circa 1000 CE – In the city of Kaifeng, on a branch of the Silk Road, Persian Jews traders establish China’s first Jewish community.
Late 700s CE – Anan ben David, an Iranian Jew who rejects the legitimacy of the Oral Law, founds a sect whose adherents come to be known as Karaites.
614 CE – Ousting the Byzantines, the Persian Sassanian Empire conquers the Land of Israel. The Iranian invaders are welcomed, with jubilation, by the persecuted Jews. The Persians initially accord the Jews preferential treatment, raising Jewish hopes of Persian sponsorship of the Third Temple’s construction. The Sassanians, however, quickly retreat from their pro-Jewish posture and in 628 CE, the Romans retake the territory.
Late 400s CE – The Babylonian Talmud is redacted under the rule of the Persian Sassanian Empire. Around the same time, the leader of Babylonian Jewry, Mar Zutra, throws off Persian rule and reigns over a Jewish kingdom for seven years.
66-70 CE – The Roman province of Judea blazes into rebellion. To the misfortune of the Jewish rebels, who might otherwise have received support from Parthia, Rome and its Iranian rival are at peace, leaving the Jews to rise up unaided. The Romans subdue the revolt and destroy the Second Temple.
40-37 BCE – After some twenty years of Roman overlordship, Parthia (the new imperial rulers of Iran) conquers the Land of Israel. The Parthians are welcomed by the Jews as liberators, but their rule proves short-lived. After just three years, Rome restores its rule, installing a Jewish puppet king, Herod the Great.
332 BCE –-The Macedonian empire of Alexander the Great conquers the Land of Israel, ending two centuries of Persian rule.
445 BCE –- Nehemiah, cupbearer to Persian king Artaxerses, is appointed pehah (governor) of Yehuda Medinata. At royal expense, Nehemiah rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem.
458 BCE – Persian king Artaxerxes invests Ezra, a Babylonian-born Jew of priestly descent, with imperial authority to carry out a mission that changes the face of Judaism forever. Ezra leads a caravan to the Land of Israel, where he is authorized to appoint judges and administer Yehuda Medinata in line with Halakha. It is Ezra who institutionalizes Torah reading as a custom.
515 BCE – The Second Temple, built with the Iranian king’s imprimatur and largesse, is dedicated.
539 BCE – Cyrus the Great defeats the Babylonian Empire, absorbs its domains, and permits the Jewish captives to return to Judah. While many Jewish captives in Iran return to Judah, many others, having flourished in exile, choose to remain in exile. Having passed under the dominion of the Persian Empire, Judah is ruled as the sub provincial district of Yehud Medinata.
586 BCE – The Babylonians conquer Judah, destroy the Temple of Solomon, and carry off Jerusalem’s aristocracy into exile, forcibly settling many Jews in Iran. A continuous presence of Jews in Iran is thereafter attested, making this the true inception of the Diaspora’s two oldest Jewish communities, those of Iran and Iraq.
722 BCE – Assyria conquers the region of Samaria in the Land of Israel, banishing the Israelites who populated it to Iran. As II Kings 18:11 relates, “The king of Assyria carried Israel away unto Assyria, and put them in…in the cities of the Medes [the Zagros Mountains of western Iran].”