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As the US-Israeli war in Iran enters the fourth week, there are no signs that Iran would give up its nuclear arms race. The siege on the nation however, did not start today. Since the end of WWII, Iran’s hydrocarbon endowments made it a pawn in the political chessboard of oil-hungry nations of United Kingdom and United States. Both countries wanted unfettered access to Iran’s oil. But Mohammad Mosaddegh, a scion of the ruling elite in Iran, who had obtained a Doctor of Law degree from the University of Laussane, Switzerland, championed an economic sovereignty for his country. His advocacy for nationalization of oil “concessions and installations” yielded the result, but it was not without a cost.
As such, when he was elected to the country’s parliament (Majles), Mosaddegh ensured the passage of Nationalization Act of March 1951. It loosened the grip of the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in Iran. This angered the UK and the US. But at home, Mosaddegh’s popularity grew exponentially. And due to the political pressure arising from his mass appeal, the ruling monarchy, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, appointed him, the Premier. Shortly, a power struggle ensued between Mosaddegh and the Shah. Consequently, Mosaddegh’s mob-like supporters chased the Shah out of the country in August 1953.
The internal dissension gave the UK and the US an opportunity to get at Mosaddegh. In a matter of days, the two countries sponsored a coup that toppled Mossadegh and restored the Shah to power. The Shah was helped to consolidate power. Expectedly, he relaxed the Nationalization Act. From then, Iran became a key ally of the US and provided the base for intelligence-gathering against the Soviet Union’s ideological inroad to the region. Over time, Iran was addressed as “policeman in the Persian Gulf.”
Unfortunately, the Shah Pahlavi’s dynasty became unpopular on account of autocracy, corruption, bad governance and excessive leaning towards the West. These issues gave vent to the February 11, 1979 Revolution, which swept off the regime. The pro-West monarchical rule was replaced with Islamic Republic of Iran headed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the first Supreme Leader. Khomeini moved the country to a full theocratic state, introduced ideological shift to Shia Islam, and a left-wing radical ideology that revolutionized the geo-politics of the Middle East. At his death in 1989, he was succeeded by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and for nearly 37 years, Khamenei held on as the Supreme Leader of Iran.
A corollary of the 1979 Revolution had been a strained relationship between the US and Iran. The apogee of the diplomatic standoff was when hundreds of Iranian students, who demanded repatriation of Shah from the US for trials in Iran, seized the US Embassy in Tehran, and took over 50 American citizens and diplomats’ hostage for 444 days. It was probably the lowest point of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. Carter’s perceived vacillation and strategic weakness in foreign policy brought mockery to the US and cost him a second tenure. However, the hostages were released within the period of inauguration of his successor, Ronald Reagan, in January 1981.
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The question is: why is Israel involved in the US-Iran conflict? It is imperative to state that Iran was among the early Muslim-majority countries that recognized the State of Israel at its creation. They maintained warm diplomatic ties until the 1979 Revolution. Khomeini displayed hatred for Israel and labelled it the “Little Satan”. Thus, Iran under Khomeini also backed some Palestinian militant groups, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and lately, Houthis of Yemen. These groups are fiercely opposed to Israel’s existence. But Israel stuck to the US. And to secure its strategic interests in the region, the US built strong partnerships with the Gulf states: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The ties are a strategic bulwark against threats from Iran.
Even Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal with Iran could barely achieve a deterrence. It was viewed with suspicion from both sides until Donald Trump cancelled it in 2018. By early 2023, a report by Council on Foreign Relations notes that “Iran had enriched trace amounts of uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels…” Hence, the June 2025 twelve-day military offensive by Israel codenamed ‘Operation Rising Lion’ was inevitable to comprehensively decimate Iran’s vast missiles stockpile and production plants. Justifying the military offensive, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel claimed that Khomeini did not heed their warnings but instead, “He began an accelerated action to restore the nuclear programs – and this time to hide them deep, deep underground, under high mountains. If we had not acted immediately, within a few months Iran’s death industry would have been immune to any strike.”
Again, through a joint US-Israeli military crackdown known as ‘Operation Roaring Lion’ which began on February 28, 2026, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the then Supreme Leader of Iran was eliminated alongside some of his family members and key Iranian officials. The aim was to precipitate regime change. In retaliation, Iran carried out multiple air strikes in key US bases in Gulf states and Israeli territory, though largely intercepted. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of Iran also threatened to attack ‘enemy-ships’ passing through the Strait of Hormuz, “the world’s most critical maritime oil chokepoint” located between Iran and Oman. And for fear of attacks, vessels have stopped operations through that route.
This has skyrocketed the global energy prices and consolidated pressure on the US. Trump has threatened to “hit and obliterate” Iran’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz is not opened within 48 hours. But Iran appears unfazed and is effectively using it as a trump-card.
Although Trump and Netanyahu had taken exception to the emergence of Mojtaba, the son of Khamenei, as the new Supreme Leader, forcing him out and getting a pliant leader without US-Israeli ground troops, may be an uphill task. The Kurdish forces are not likely to command the number, solidarity, and capacity to overrun the IRGC. And with NATO’s passivity and global outcry over energy crisis, the US should return to the drawing board and allow diplomacy to prevail.
