🛫 Chapter I – Alone Among the Arabs: Why Iran Chose Israel#
“We didn’t speak their language. We didn’t share their caliphate. We didn’t kneel before Pan-Arabism. We were Persia — and we were alone.”
🌍 When We Were Uninvited to the Arab Table#
The 1950s.
The Middle East was a burning political theater, split between those who tore down Western flags and those who quietly sought shelter behind them. Amid the sweeping tide of Arab nationalism led by Egypt, Iraq, and Syria, Iran stood on the edge of the stage — silent, isolated, and alien.
Iran was not part of the Arab world — not in language, not in culture, not in history. We were Persian, followers of Shia Islam, carrying a legacy that often clashed with the Sunni-majority Arab world forming an alliance to reclaim power and identity.
Rather than being embraced as a brother, Iran was eyed with suspicion. Iraq saw us as a threat. Egypt mocked our monarchy. Saudi Arabia rejected our sect. As the Arab world rallied around Pan-Arabism, Iran was left out, by design.
“Pan-Arabism was never built for us,” said Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
“And we won’t beg for a seat at a table that never had our name.”
🧭 Shah Pahlavi: Modernization, Security, and Cold Realism#
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi didn’t dream of Arab unity.
He believed in progress, order, and self-preservation. He was obsessed with turning Iran into a modern, industrial power — a “Second Japan” of the Middle East. And he knew that Iran, surrounded by suspicion and threats, needed strong allies.
It was not the Arabs who extended a hand —
It was the West, and quietly, Israel.
🤝 Israel: A Logical Ally, Even If Unspoken#
Like Iran, Israel was a non-Arab state surrounded by hostility. It was also a new nation trying to survive in a region that resented its existence.
A quiet, strategic partnership formed:
- Iran supplied oil to Israel through a secret pipeline project via the port of Eilat.
- Mossad and SAVAK, the intelligence agencies of Israel and Iran, exchanged critical information to fight Arab nationalists, leftist revolutionaries, and Soviet proxies.
- Israel provided technology and training, especially in agriculture and military development.
“We were not allies by love. We were allies by fear.”
Publicly, Iran did not recognize Israel.
But in the hallways of diplomacy, between coded letters and whispered meetings, Iran and Israel shook hands in the dark.
🕯️ A Persian Nation Between Two Fires#
Iran feared two main forces:
- The Pan-Arab alliance that viewed Persia as an outsider,
- And the creeping influence of Soviet communism from the north.
So Shah Pahlavi aligned Iran with America, Britain, and Israel — creating a powerful axis that opposed Arab socialism, Islamic populism, and Russian expansion.
To the Arab world, Shah became a traitor to Islam.
To his own people, he was becoming a distant king.
To the West, he was a trusted partner.
And to Israel — a lifeline in a desert of enemies.
🔍 Realpolitik, Not Brotherhood#
The Iran–Israel alliance was pragmatic, not romantic.
- Iran needed protection, and Israel needed energy and a regional friend.
- Both nations were modernizing fast, betting on technology and intelligence rather than revolution and slogans.
- Together, they launched Project Flower, a joint missile development program aimed at building long-range weapons for defense.
"As long as the Shah ruled, Israel slept peacefully," recalled an Israeli military analyst.
🎭 But Fear Is a Weak Foundation#
By the late 1970s, cracks began to form.
The Iranian people — tired of oppression, inflation, and Western dependency — began to march. First against the regime, then against the ideas that held it up: America, monarchy... and Israel.
On the streets of Tehran, portraits of the Shah were burned alongside Israeli flags.
At first it was about bread. But soon, it was about identity, and vengeance.
“They called us traitors. They burned what we once protected.”
🧵 Closing Chapter I#
Iran chose Israel not out of ideology — but out of isolation.
Surrounded by Arab hostility and Soviet pressure, Persia reached for the only hand that offered stability.
But history is cruel.
And alliances built on fear often rot into resentment.
“We once stood side by side — not out of love, but because we feared the same monsters.
Now, we face each other, with monsters in our eyes.”