Israeli-Iranian relations, 1970--2001: Ideological calculus or strategic rivalry

Is Iran's opposition to Israel a remnant of Iran's revolutionary and ideological past, or is there a strategic logic that fuels the hostile relations between the two former allies? This study provides an explanation for the evolution of Israeli-Iranian relations from 1970 to 2001, by identifying the primary driving forces of their foreign policies through two theoretical approaches; balance of threat calculations (Walt) and the strategic and hegemonic competition of the power cycle theory (Doran).; The study argues that the ideology of Iran and Israel, as well as the two countries' ability to constitute a threat vis-a-vis each other, have played a secondary role in determining relations between them. Rather, the fundamental drive for primacy within the context of the ongoing process of establishing a sustainable regional order in the Middle East has been---and continues to be---the primary driving force of their relations.; These driving forces, in turn, are partly a function of the position of the state within the system. This was made visible both by Iran's rise to the top of the system in the 1970s, after which it distanced itself from Tel Aviv in order to win Arab legitimacy for its primacy in the region, and by the end of the Cold War, which brought Israel to the top of the system. Israel's reaction was comparable to that of Iran's; after having viewed Iran as a balancer against the Arab threats it faced---regardless of the nature of the regime in Tehran---once at a top of the system, it too sought to craft the order of the system in its favor and began treating Iran as a rival rather than a balancer.; Contrary to conventional wisdom, the study shows that the major transformations of Israeli-Iranian relations have all coincided with systemic rather than ideological shifts.