The Islamic Republic spent decades calling the Shah a “Zionist puppet” and Israel “a danger to humanity.” At the same time, Khomeini’s regime was quietly buying Israeli weapons.

During the Iran-Iraq war, Begin’s (Israeli PM) government sold the Islamic Republic roughly $500 million in arms between 1981 and 1983, according to Tel Aviv University’s Jaffe Institute. Spare parts, ammunition, and other equipment that kept Khomeini’s forces fighting. The same regime that turned the Israeli embassy over to the PLO and made “Death to Israel” a slogan was depending on Israeli arms to survive.

The Shah’s alliance with Israel was open, public, and mutually useful. The mullahs’ dealings were secret, opportunistic, and pure self-interest. They needed the weapons, so they took them, then went right back to the propaganda.

That is the pattern. The rhetoric is for the crowds. The deals are for the regime’s survival. This is why the regime is without friends now, only proxies that depend on it.

— Siaxares 🇮🇷 🇺🇸 (@siaxares) October 25, 2026