| Project Flower | |
|---|---|
| Date | July 18, 1977– February 1979 |
| Executed by | |
Project Flower was a joint Israeli-Iranian military effort to develop advanced missile systems. It was one of six oil-for-arms contracts that the countries signed in April 1977.
| Project Flower | |
|---|---|
| Date | July 18, 1977– February 1979 |
| Executed by | |
Project Flower was a joint Israeli-Iranian military effort to develop advanced missile systems. It was one of six oil-for-arms contracts that the countries signed in April 1977.
In the mid-1970s, Iran thought to expand its missile capability, including through cooperation with Israel with whom it had tacit military economic and intelligence cooperation at the time. In April 1977, six oil-for-arms contracts were signed, among them Project Flower. [1] On 18 July 1977, Iranian Vice Minister of War General Hassan Toufanian traveled in secret to Israel where he met with Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Minister of Defense Ezer Weizmann. [2] Iranian concerns over missile and nuclear developments in India and Pakistan were also discussed. [3]
This project focused on the development of a longer range Gabriel anti-ship missile and a future submarine-launched variant, and intended to reproduce an American-designed missile with Israeli-made parts [3] that could be fitted with nuclear warheads.[ improper synthesis? ] The missile incorporated American navigation and guidance equipment. [4]
The following year, Iran supplied Israel with $280 million worth of oil as a down payment. A team of Iranian experts began construction of a missile assembly facility near Sirjan, in south central Iran, and a missile test range near Rafsanjan [3]
In February 1979, the monarchy of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution, and Project Flower ended. The Israeli engineers and defense officials returned to Israel and all the blueprints and diagrams of the weapons systems were sent back via diplomatic courier. [3]
Yaakov Shapiro, the Defense Ministry official in charge of coordinating the negotiations with Iran from 1975 to 1978, recalls: "In Iran they treated us like kings. We did business with them on a stunning scale. Without the ties with Iran, we would not have had the money to develop weaponry that is today in the front line of the defense of the State of Israel." [5]
Three decades after the overthrow of the Pahlavi and the closure of the project, a book titled "Israel's Secret War in Iran" was published by Ronen Bergman [6] , a senior political and military analyst for Yedioth Ahronoth [7] , Israel's largest paid newspaper. [8] Bergman had a conversation with a Senior official in the Israeli Ministry of Defense who worked during this project. [6]
While Pahlavi's authorities were happy with this project and its advancement away from the eyes of the US in their view, Israel had carefully duped Pahlavi to secure its interests. According to Israel's plan, during this project, contrary to what Iran's top officials think, Iran would only achieve obsolete technology. [6]
The relations between Iran and Israel are divided into four major phases: the ambivalent period from 1947 to 1953, the friendly period during the era of the Pahlavi dynasty from 1953 to 1979, the worsening period following the Iranian Revolution from 1979 to 1990, and the ongoing period of open hostility since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. In 1947, Iran was among 13 countries that voted against the United Nations Partition Plan for the British Mandate of Palestine. Two years later, Iran also voted against Israel's admission to the United Nations.
Operation Opera, also known as Operation Babylon, was a surprise airstrike conducted by the Israeli Air Force on 7 June 1981, which destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor located 17 kilometres southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. The Israeli operation came a year after the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force had caused minor damage to the same nuclear facility in Operation Scorch Sword, with the damage having been subsequently repaired by French technicians. Operation Opera, and related Israeli government statements following it, established the Begin Doctrine, which explicitly stated the strike was not an anomaly, but instead "a precedent for every future government in Israel". Israel's counter-proliferation preventive strike added another dimension to its existing policy of deliberate ambiguity, as it related to the nuclear weapons capability of other states in the region.
Beginning in the mid 2000s, the military and diplomatic corps of the Russian Federation has had various contacts and relations with entities on both sides of the Iran–Israel proxy conflict. This is a component of Russia's broader foreign policy across the entire Middle East region.
Iran's military industry manufactures and exports various types of arms and military equipment. Iran's military industry, under the command of Iran's Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics, is composed of the following main components:
The dynamic between the League of Arab States and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been ambivalent, owing to the latter's varying bilateral conduct with each country of the former. Iran is located on the easternmost frontier of the Arab League, which consists of 22 Arab countries and spans the bulk of the Middle East and North Africa, of which Iran is also a part. The Arab League's population is dominated by ethnic Arabs, whereas Iran's population is dominated by ethnic Persians; and while both sides have Islam as a common religion, their sects differ, with Sunnis constituting the majority in the Arab League and Shias constituting the majority in Iran. Since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, the country's Shia theocracy has attempted to assert itself as the legitimate religious and political leadership of all Muslims, contesting a status that has generally been understood as belonging to Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia, where the cities of Mecca and Medina are located. This animosity, manifested in the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, has greatly exacerbated the Shia–Sunni divide throughout the Muslim world.
The Defense Industries Organization (DIO) is a conglomerate of companies run by the Islamic Republic of Iran whose function is to provide the Armed Forces with the necessary manufacturing capacity and technical abilities. In recent years, the DIO has attempted to become export-oriented, allowing Iran to become an exporter of weapons.
Yuval Steinitz is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Likud party. He also held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Finance, Minister of Intelligence, Minister of Strategic Affairs and Minister of Energy. Steinitz holds a PhD in philosophy and was a senior lecturer at the University of Haifa.
The Samson Option is Israel's deterrence strategy of massive retaliation with nuclear weapons as a "last resort" against a country whose military has invaded and/or destroyed much of Israel. Commentators also have employed the term to refer to situations where non-nuclear, non-Israeli actors have threatened conventional weapons retaliation, such as Yasser Arafat.
Iran–Turkey relations are the bilateral relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Turkey. The two states' relationship is complex and characterized by periods of both tension and cooperation, as both Iran and Turkey are fighting for influence in the Middle East through supporting opposing proxies as part of a proxy conflict. The two countries are also major trade partners and are perceived as mutually interdependent due to geographical proximity as well as historically shared cultural, linguistic, and ethnic traits.
Ali-Reza Asgari was an Iranian general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, deputy defense minister, and cabinet member of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.
Azerbaijan and Israel began diplomatic relations in 1992 following Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union. Azerbaijan is one of the majority Muslim countries, alongside Turkey, Egypt, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kosovo, Morocco, Albania, and the other former Soviet republics to develop bilateral strategic and economic relations with Israel.
The State of Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons. Estimates of Israel's stockpile range between 80 and 400 nuclear warheads, and the country is believed to possess the ability to deliver them in several methods, including by aircraft, as submarine-launched cruise missiles, and via the Jericho series of intermediate to intercontinental range ballistic missiles. Its first deliverable nuclear weapon is thought to have been completed in late 1966 or early 1967; which would make it the sixth country in the world to have developed them.
Ronen Bergman is an Israeli investigative journalist and author. He is a senior political and military analyst for Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest-circulation daily.
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Mahabadi was an Iranian nuclear physicist and scientist. He was regarded as the chief of Iran's nuclear program.
Israel's role in the Iran–Iraq War consisted of support provided by Israel to Iran during the Iran–Iraq War from 1980 to 1988. During the war, Israel was one of the main suppliers of military equipment to Iran. Israel also provided military instructors during the war, and in turn received Iranian intelligence that helped it carry out Operation Opera against Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor. The nuclear reactor was a central component of Iraq's nuclear weapons program.
The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, popularly known as Mossad, is the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with Aman and Shin Bet.
The Iran–Israel proxy conflict, also known as the Iran–Israel proxy war or Iran–Israel Cold War, is an ongoing proxy conflict between Iran and Israel. In the Israeli–Lebanese conflict, Iran has supported Lebanese Shia militias, most notably Hezbollah. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran has backed Palestinian groups such as Hamas. Israel has supported Iranian rebels, such as the People's Mujahedin of Iran, conducted airstrikes against Iranian allies in Syria and assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists. In 2018 Israeli forces directly attacked Iranian forces in Syria.
Amir Hossein Rabii was an Iranian senior military officer who served as the commander in chief of Imperial Iranian Air Force from 1976 to 1979. He was the last commander of the force.
Hassan Toufanian was an Iranian Air Force General under the Shah of Iran. He was a graduate of the Iranian Military Academy and later served as commanding officer of Iran's flight academy. In 1977 he was the Shah's Vice Minister of War and led Project Flower, which entailed an economic deal between Iran and Israel which would have built cooperation and exchanged Iranian oil for an Israeli missile system, but which collapsed in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution.
The 2020 Iran explosions were a series of eleven explosions in Iran, including at an advanced centrifuge assembly facility, alleged missile sites, petrochemical centers, power plants, a nuclear enrichment facility and a medical clinic. First reported on 25 June 2020, The Iranian government has denied reports of explosions in its missile sites while acknowledging damage to its largest nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz.