Israel’s recent strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites — including the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz — have marked a significant escalation in tensions between the two countries and the Middle East. This is not the first time Israel has taken pre-emptive action against Iranian nuclear infrastructure. For years, the two states have been engaged in a complex and often covert conflict involving cyber operations, proxy engagements, and targeted killings.
Disputes over Iran’s nuclear activities — which Tehran maintains are for peaceful purposes — have long shaped the relationship. Israel has consistently called for international pressure on Iran, while the latter has rejected allegations of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
From deadly bombings in Buenos Aires in the early 1990s, to the cyberattack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility using the Stuxnet virus, assassinations of key Iranian nuclear scientists, and now the retaliatory missile exchanges of 2024–2025, the two countries have been locked in a high-stakes regional conflict with global repercussions.
Here is a timeline of key events tracing the covert and open hostilities that have defined the Iran–Israel confrontation over the past decade:
August 2019
Israel carried out a series of attacks in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq — all of Iran’s allies — claiming it was to prevent them from equipping themselves with sophisticated weapons.
It accused Tehran of trying to establish an arms supply line through Iraq and northern Syria into Lebanon. During the same year, Israel also attacked ships carrying Iranian oil and weapons through the sea, according to the New York Times.
January 2020
General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC’s) and the architect of its security apparatus, was killed in a US airstrike near Baghdad International Airport. The US has traditionally been Israel’s staunchest ally and has echoed its calls against Iran’s nuclear programme. As a result of the airstrike, Soleimani died alongside Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and several others.
The White House and the Pentagon confirmed that the “killing” of Soleimani in Iraq was ordered by US President Donald Trump as a preemptive action to deter future attacks allegedly being planned by Iran. The Pentagon said Soleimani had been “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region”. It said it took “decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani,” but did not specify how.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed Soleimani as a “martyr”, and vowed that a “vigorous revenge is waiting for the criminals” behind the killing.
Iran struck back in retaliation with missile attacks on Iraqi bases housing American troops. About 100 US military personnel were injured.
March 2021
By the beginning of 2021, Iran and Israel had increasingly begun attacking each other at sea.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, accused Iran of being behind a February explosion on an Israeli-owned ship transporting vehicles sailing off the coast of Oman. Iran accused Israel of targeting an Iranian cargo ship about 50 miles off the coast of Israel.
April 2021
Iran blamed Israel for a mysterious explosion that knocked out power at its uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, BBC reported.
Israel did not publicly accept that it was behind what Iran called “an act of sabotage” but US and Israeli media reports quoted officials as saying it was carried out by Israel’s overseas intelligence agency, Mossad.
Iran vowed to take revenge “at a time of its choosing”.
November 2021
Iran’s high-ranking nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was shot “by terrorists” in an ambush near Tehran. At the time of his death, he was serving as head of the Research and Innovation Organisation within Iran’s Ministry of Defence.
Fakhrizadeh had long been suspected by Western, Israeli and Iranian exile foes of masterminding what they alleged was a covert programme to develop nuclear weapons. Iran had consistently denied pursuing nuclear arms, insisting its nuclear activities were for peaceful purposes.
Netanyahu had previously claimed that after the closure of Project AMAD — Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme — Fakhrizadeh continued to work on “special projects” within the Defence Ministry.
Following the assassination, Iran’s then-foreign minister condemned the killing as an act of terrorism and accused Israel of carrying out the operation. A spokesperson for Netanyahu declined to comment when approached by AFP.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council, Iran’s envoy Majid Takht Ravanchi warned against “any adventuristic measures by the United States and Israel against his country, particularly during the remaining period of the current administration of the United States in office.” referring to Trump’s final weeks in office. He stated that Iran reserved the right to take “all necessary measures” in self-defence.
Fakhrizadeh’s assassination took place less than two months before Joe Biden was to take office as US president.
Biden had promised a return to diplomacy with Iran after four hawkish years under Trump, who withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and began reimposing crippling sanctions.
July 2022
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid signed a new security pact aimed at reinforcing their united stance against Iran. As part of the agreement, the United States pledged it would “never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon” and vowed to use “all” elements of American power to prevent the Islamic Republic from doing so.
Lapid stated that the only measure capable of stopping Iran was knowing that if they continued to develop their nuclear programme, “the free world would use force”.
In response, Iran’s ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi warned the US and its allies that Tehran “would not accept any crisis or insecurity in the region”.
December 2023
An Israeli airstrike outside the Syrian capital Damascus killed a senior adviser in the IRGC, Sayyed Razi Mousavi. He was responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Syria and Iran, according to Reuters.
According to Iran’s ambassador in Damascus, Hossein Akbari, Mousavi was posted at the embassy as a diplomat and was killed by Israeli missiles after returning home from work.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called it a “show of weakness” on Israel’s part.
The IRGC warned that Israel would suffer for killing Mousavi, who held the Guards’ rank of brigadier-general.
April 2024
A suspected Israeli airstrike on the main Iranian embassy compound in Damascus killed seven officer of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), including two senior commanders — Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and his deputy, General Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi. Several other IRGC military advisers were in the building.
The attack marked the first time the vast embassy compound itself had been hit, and it came amid soaring tensions over Tel Aviv’s war in Gaza.
Israel neither confirmed nor denied responsibility. However, a senior Israeli government official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said those hit had “been behind many attacks on Israeli and American assets and had plans for additional attacks”.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called for a “serious response by the international community”, while Iran vowed to take revenge.
In retaliation, the IRGC launched what it described as “extensive” drone and missile strikes against “certain targets” inside Israel under the name Operation True Promise. On April 13, Iran carried out a direct attack on Israeli territory using a barrage of drones and missiles. Its regional proxies and allied groups also launched coordinated attacks on Israeli positions.
In response, Israel conducted a direct strike on the Iranian city of Isfahan on April 19, according to multiple sources. Tehran, however, downplayed the incident and indicated it had no immediate plans for retaliation.
July 2024
Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran amid the Israel-Gaza conflict, hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for Iran’s new president. Haniyeh’s bodyguards were also killed in their residence in Tehran.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri called it “a grave escalation” aimed at breaking the will of Hamas.
Khamenei threatened “harsh punishment” for Haniyeh’s killing, saying: “We consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Initially, Israel did not comment on the killing. Later, in December, Israel’s defence minister for the first time admitted to Israel’s role in killing Hamas’s political leader, according to BBC.
October 2024
Tensions between the two regional arch-rivals came to a head when Iran launched what it described as a barrage of missiles at targets within Israel. Although Israel claimed it destroyed most of the projectiles before they impacted, several missiles did hit various areas across the country, although no widespread loss of life was reported.
Tehran had claimed at the time that the attack was a response to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan, as well as the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
June 2025
Israel launched widescale attacks on several Iranian nuclear facilities and military sites, and carried out assassinations of top military officials and nuclear scientists, as part of their launch of Operation Rising Lion — a targeted military operation aimed at rolling back what it called the “Iranian threat to Israeli survival.” Israeli officials described it as the beginning of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from developing an atomic weapon.
Iranian state media have reported the killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) top commander Hossein Salami, as well as nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi in the strike.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned that Israel and its chief ally would pay a ‘heavy price’ for the attack, accusing Washington of providing support for the operation. He said Israel would face a “bitter and painful” fate in its aftermath.
Israeli military Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, said Israel had reached a “point of no return” with the operation, which began early Friday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the United States was not involved in the strikes and that Tel Aviv had acted unilaterally for self-defence. However, an Israeli official told public broadcaster Kan that Israel had coordinated with Washington on Iran.
