ABSTRACT
Iran’s foreign policy is believed to have lost much of its ideological zeal after the death of Khomeini. One often-cited exception to this general pattern is Iran’s relations with Israel. Tehran’s posture on Israel and the Middle East peace process is often explained as a remnant of its revolutionary and ideological past and contradictory to Iran’s national interest. However, this analysis neglects crucial systemic changes that occurred in the Middle East after 1991, as well as Israel’s willingness to improve relations with Iran at the height of Iran’s revolutionary fervour in the 1980s and the Islamic regime’s refusal to allow ideological considerations to stand in its way to purchase arms from Israel. Furthermore, it reduces Israel’s role in the equation to that of a non-player whose destiny is limited to mere reactions to Iran’s ideological designs.
