After US President Donald Trump ordered the drone strike upon Soleimani, most international leaders began to urge for a de-escalation of tensions between Iran and the US, fearing the violence could escalate into World War 3. However, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “Israel stands with the United States in its righteous struggle” in the wake of Soleimani’s assassination, emphasising how the US had the right to “self-defence” after the “deaths of American citizens” orchestrated by the Iranian general. Israel and Iran have been locked in a conflict for years now, as Iran believes Israel stands in the way of its Islamic dominance in the Middle East. Its official policy is the destruction of the Jewish state, and the takeover of the holy city of Jerusalem.
In an interview with Iranian expert and former head of BBC Persian Television Sadeq Saba last week, Express.co.uk learned that Israel may be the only country “to benefit from a war between the US and Iran”.
Mr Saba explained such a war would inevitably “weaken” Iran and reduce “the serious threat it poses against the Jewish state”.
According to a TV documentary aired in 2012, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak actually ordered the military to prepare themselves for a strike against Iran’s nuclear installations.
On the Israeli Channel 2, investigative programme ‘Fact’ explored how Israel was on the brink of war with its neighbour – but, the call to arms was cancelled when both the military chief of staff and head of Mossad rebelled.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei (Image: Getty)
Israel is close allies with the US – Netanyahu pictured with Donald Trump (L) (Image: Getty)
Army chief Gabi Ashkenazi and the head of Mossad Meir Dagan stood firm against the politicians. Mr Dagan reportedly told the Israeli Prime Minister and the Defence Minister: “You are likely to make an illegal decision to go to war. Only the cabinet is authorised to decide this.”
The programme later claimed Mr Dagan said after the meeting that the Prime Minister and Defence Minister were “simply trying to steal a war”.
The army chief Mr Askenazi agreed, and added that raising the alert level would create a military strike.
He told the Israeli programme: “[An attack] is not something you do unless you are certain you want to execute at the end.”
READ MORE: Why Iran snubbed EU nuclear deal – but agreed to UN inspections
Soleimani supporters burning Israeli and US flags (Image: Getty)
Instead, he pushed for a “covert campaign” against Iran, where the Israeli forces would do “everything that is below the threshold of war”.
Mr Dagan also reportedly said bombing Iran was “the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard”.
Yet, Defence Minister Mr Barak disputed these claims of an internal rebellion and rejected the idea that security chiefs dismissed the order.
He said: “The idea that if the chief of staff does not recommend something that is possible to do, then we cannot decide to carry out – this has no basis in fact.”
He added: “It can be carried out against [the chief of staff’s] recommendation.”
Fears that Israel would attack Iran began to escalate in 2010, so much so that the leaders of the G8 countries “absolutely” believed a strike was imminent, according to the-then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Both Mr Dagan and Mr Askenazi left office between the 2010 row and the documentary’s release, in 2012.
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Iran and Israel have had an ongoing conflict for years (Image: Getty)
Netanyahu’s ‘red line’ for Iran’s nuclear programme (Image: Getty)
Mr Dagan later told CBS’s 60 Minutes in March 2012: “An attack on Iran now before exploring all other approaches is not the right way to do it.”
While both the US and EU supported sanctions against Iran to limit its ability to build nuclear weapons years ago, they were perceived to be ineffectual in curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions back in 2010.
However, they began to affect the Middle Eastern country a few years later, and Tehran did eventually agree to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, otherwise known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The agreement meant sanctions on Iran would be lifted, if the country limited its nuclear resources.
For instance, it would reduce its uranium enrichment installations.
This deal is now on its last legs, after Mr Trump pulled out of the agreement in May 2018, claiming the terms were not harsh enough on Iran. The EU is now urging Iran to stay committed to the deal, but the nation has already breached the agreement several times in the last year.
Threats have been exchanged between Israel and Iran regularly over the years. The ongoing conflict has seen Israel carry out “covert” attacks, and the country is believed to be responsible for a range of unexplained incidents relating to Iran’s nuclear power throughout 2010.
For instance, there were at least three computer viruses which infected Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, as well as a collection of assassinations of Iranian nuclear research scientists and a series accidents which took place at an Iranian military installations.
In 2012, however, Mr Netanyahu drew a “red line” for Iran’s nuclear programme. He said it showed how close Iran was to nuclear capability, although the line would not be crossed until the next spring or summer. He warned Iran to stay below the marker, as “red lines don’t lead to war. Red lines prevent war”.
Iran maintains that its nuclear power is for domestic use.