Israel’s Arms for Iran

In distancing Iran from the Arab Peace Initiative, Gholamhossein Mahmoudi (Letters, November 28) is correct in pointing out that his country has never recognised “the illegitimate and fabricated Israeli regime” since the Islamic revolution in 1979.However, he seems to forget that it was Israel’s clandestine supply of arms to Iran at the onset of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s which propped up the Iranian military forces. This is well documented by several academic experts on Iran.

With Saddam at the gates of Tehran, Khomeini was only too willing to quietly accept arms from Ariel Sharon to save his revolution. Sharon’s rationale was that a victorious Saddam would leave him with the most powerful army in the Middle East. This was a much-criticised decision within Israel’s defence establishment. The irony is that Mr Mahmoudi and his colleagues at the Iranian embassy in part owe their current posts to Sharon and the pernicious Zionist entity.

Professor Colin Shindler
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Guardian 1 December 2008