🔥 Chapter II – The Betrayal and the Fire: How Iran Burned Its Past to Find Its Future#
“We once whispered secrets to them in gold-lit rooms. Then came the chants — louder than bullets — and everything changed.”
🌪️ Tehran Trembles – The Beginning of the End#
Late 1978.
The streets of Tehran shook — not from war, but from voices.
Men, women, students, clerics — they flooded the city, not with guns, but with rage and poetry. The slogans that once praised the Shah now cursed his name.
And in those same chants, another name began to surface — "Death to Israel."
It wasn't always that way. But revolutions don’t ask permission to rewrite alliances.
They just do.
🧕 The Return of Khomeini – and the Rise of an Islamic Republic#
In February 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran from exile.
His face, once seen only on smuggled cassette tapes and grainy pamphlets, now filled every banner and wall.
The Shah fled.
The monarchy collapsed.
And in its place stood something new — something the world hadn’t seen in centuries:
a theocratic revolution at the heart of an oil-rich empire.
“We reject both East and West. We follow only Islam.” — Khomeini’s famous declaration.
❌ Iran Cuts Israel Like a Disease#
Within days of the revolution:
- Iran severed all diplomatic ties with Israel.
- The Israeli embassy in Tehran was handed over to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
- Mossad agents were forced to flee.
- Iranian state media labeled Israel “the Little Satan”, while America became “the Great Satan.”
"They once sat at our table. Now they are our enemy."
For Israel, the shock was seismic.
A once-reliable partner had now become its ideological archenemy.
🔥 Symbols Burned, Files Destroyed#
Photos of the Shah, documents signed with Israeli officials, and even images of Israeli aid were burned in public squares.
Iran wasn't just breaking ties — it was purging its memory.
In the former Israeli mission building, a banner was hung:
“This is now the embassy of Free Palestine.”
For a revolution built on reclaiming Islamic purity, Israel became the perfect villain.
💡 Why the Shift Was So Violent#
This wasn't just politics. It was identity.
- The revolution needed to define itself as the exact opposite of the Shah’s regime.
- Since the Shah had embraced Israel, the revolution had to reject it absolutely.
- Supporting Palestine and opposing Zionism became symbols of moral and religious authority.
And Khomeini knew that opposing Israel would unify Iranians, Arabs, and Muslims beyond Iran’s borders.
“Zionism is not just a regime — it is a cancer in the body of Islam,” he declared.
🕳️ The View from Israel: “We Lost Iran Forever”#
In Jerusalem, the reaction was disbelief and dread.
- Project Flower was dead.
- Oil pipelines were closed.
- Intelligence cooperation was erased overnight.
Worse, Iran was now openly supporting groups that wanted to destroy Israel — including Hezbollah, Hamas, and later Islamic Jihad.
Israel had not just lost a friend —
It had gained a revolutionary, ideological enemy with long reach and deep funding.
📖 From Silent Partner to Loudest Opponent#
The irony was bitter:
Iran — which once protected Israel from Arab pressure — now became the loudest voice calling for Israel’s destruction.
This wasn’t diplomacy.
This was doctrinal warfare.
And the echoes of it still rattle missiles and megaphones today.
🧵 End of Chapter II#
The revolution wasn’t just a regime change.
It was a rupture in worldview —
A decision to burn everything the previous Iran stood for, including its only friend in the region.
"We did not simply break ties with Israel.
We declared that our future would be defined by resisting everything it represents."