Middle East Policy’s special issue, The Israel-Iran War, is free for all readers, even those without a subscription! Drawing on the journal’s vast archive, this new installment provides analyses of the post-October 7 regional order alongside older articles that probe the key moments that set the stage for the unprecedented US bombing of Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.
The first section of the special issue, The Brewing Conflict, traces the post-Cold War enmity between Israel and Iran that has now culminated in Tehran’s “annus horribilis”—in the words of Thomas Juneau’s contribution to this new volume—and the Israel/US bombings of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.
Shibley Telhami reminds us that even in the early years after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, despite Washington’s attempts to forge Middle East peace, Israeli political culture was likely to resist. The government, especially the ruling Likud Party, was seen by the peace-supporting Labor Party as using “the negotiations to buy time, defuse American pressure, and prove to the Israeli electorate that they do not have to choose among American aid, territory and peace with Arab states—they can have it all.” This dynamic is apparent today, with the last two administrations creating and trying to expand the Abraham Accords between regional capitals and Israel—even with no commitment to Palestinian self-determination.
The Gulf War also weakened Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Trita Parsi reminds us in his article, thus removing a common threat to Israel and Iran. Each soon saw the other as the major regional adversary. Parsi’s analysis of the summer 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah foreshadows the post-October 7 conflicts, especially the bombings of Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.
“With a potential future showdown with Iran in mind,” Parsi writes, “Tel Aviv seemed to have sought an opportunity to neutralize Hezbollah and Hamas in order to weaken Iran’s deterrence and retaliation capabilities.” The author contended at the time of his 2007 article that to deprive Iran of “incentives to continue its aggressive stance towards the Jewish state [requires] comprehensive negotiations between the United States and Iran with the aim of détente and a new security order.” As we now know, a different path was chosen.
The section’s more recent analyses explain Israel’s concerns about Iran’s offensive capabilities and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s perceptions about the intentions of his regional foes. Gawdat Bahgat explains that Tehran’s missile program has long been the biggest source of concern to Israel, and he explores its historical roots and growing effectiveness. Given the improvements over recent years, he argues, missiles will continue to play a central role in Iran’s power projection—no matter what kind of regime is in place.
As for Israel’s post-October 7 operations, Emir Hadžikadunić and Marko Ćuže use a novel game-theoretical model to show that Netanyahu sees his adversaries as playing chicken, likely to back down if Israel flexes its military and intelligence superiority. While it appears at this time that Tehran has blinked, it is far from clear that the regime is simply waving a white flag.
This new special issue, The Israel-Iran War, is free for all readers, even without a subscription. The other two sections, Washington Takes Israel’s Side and The Nuclear Confrontation, feature new and archival analyses from Chas W. Freeman Jr., Mark N. Katz, William J. Perry, and many other scholars and practitioners.
Middle East Policy, The Israel-Iran War—special issue!
THE BREWING CONFLICT
Iran’s Annus Horribilis in 2024: Beaten, but Not Defeated
Thomas Juneau, 2025
The Impact of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Beliefs on Israel’s War against the Axis of Resistance
Emir Hadžikadunić | Marko Ćuže, 2025
Iran’s Ballistic-Missile and Space Program: An Assessment
Gawdat Bahgat, 2019
Iran and Israel: The Avoidable War
Trita Parsi, 2007
Israeli Foreign Policy After the Gulf War
Shibley Telhami, 1992
WASHINGTON TAKES ISRAEL’S SIDE
Conjuring an Enemy: US Discourse and Policy on Iran, 1979–88
Annie Tracy Samuel, 2025
Lessons from America’s Misadventures in the Middle East
Chas W. Freeman, 2015
Iran and America: Is Rapprochement Finally Possible?
Mark N. Katz, 2005
The Strategic Functions of US Aid to Israel
Stephen Zunes, 1996
Gulf Security and US Policy
William J. Perry, 1992
THE NUCLEAR CONFRONTATION
Negotiating the Restoration of the Iran Nuclear Deal
Wyn Rees | Hossein Salimian Rizi, 2024
Negotiating the Impossible? A WMD-Free Zone in the Middle East
Robert Mason, 2025
Israel’s Future and Iran’s Nuclear Program
Leonard Weiss, 2009
Iran and the Arab World: Implications of the Nuclear Negotiations
James N. Miller | Nabeel Khoury | Paul Pillar | Sara Vakhshouri, 2015
BOOK REVIEWS
The World Powers and Iran: Before, During, and After the Nuclear Deal, by Banafsheh Keynoush
Reviewed by Mahmood Monshipouri, 2025
A New U.S. Paradigm for the Middle East: Ending America’s Misguided Policy of Domination, by Paul Pillar, Andrew Bacevich, Annelle Sheline, and Trita Parsi
Reviewed by Ken Weisbrode, 2020
Europe and Iran: The Nuclear Deal and Beyond, by Cornelius Adebahr; Nuclear Multilateralism and Iran: Inside EU Negotiations, by Tarja Cronberg
Reviewed by Naysan Rafati, 2017
Reagan: His Life and Legend, by Max Boot
Reviewed by A.R. Joyce, 2025