section_path: Background/Iran–Israel opposition
section_name: Iran–Israel opposition
paragraph_text: Iran–Israel opposition
  
  Israel enjoyed a close relationship with the Pahlavi monarchy until the Iranian Revolution, when the monarchy was ousted and replaced by an anti-Western theocratic Islamic republic led by Ruhollah Khomeini. Ever since, Iran's government has repeatedly pledged to destroy Israel. Khomeini ended cooperation with Israel and denounced its occupation of Palestinian territories. As time passed, Iran tried to win Arab support by increasingly antagonizing Israel. Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, has previously referred to Israel as a "cancerous tumour" and urged for Israel to be destroyed. Israel considers the Iranian nuclear program an existential threat, fearing that Iran will develop a nuclear weapon.
  
  In 2024, the two countries attacked each other openly and directly for the first time following decades of proxy conflict. In April 2024, an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus killed Iranian officers. Iran retaliated with strikes on Israel in April 2024, to which Israel then retaliated with strikes on Iran. In July 2024, Israel assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran's capital Tehran, and then assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and prominent IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan in Lebanon in September 2024. In October 2024, Iran struck Israel, and Israel struck Iran. U.S. and Israeli officials said that most of Iran's air defense network, including nearly all of its advanced Russian-supplied S-300 missile systems, were destroyed in October 2024, paving the way for potential future Israeli strikes.