As around 200 Iranian ballistic missiles rained on Israel targeting its strategic military and security infrastructures, it prompted many to speculate if the sworn enemies had come on the verge of an all-out war. However, the now fierce foes, Israel and Iran were once strategic partners.
Amid the fast-paced developments and shifting dynamics of today’s world, many might be surprised to learn that Iran and Israel once collaborated on a covert project in the 1970s, known as ‘Project Flower’. This multibillion-dollar mission aimed to jointly develop missile technology was a rare partnership between two nations, now considered staunch adversaries.
Project Flower was aimed at developing surface-to-surface missiles, potentially capable of carrying nuclear warheads, according to a New York Times report from 1986.
Project Flower, one of six oil-for-arms contracts between Iran and Israel, was conceived and signed during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, in 1977. This was just a couple of years before his regime was toppled in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
Yitzhak Rabin was the Israeli Prime Minister then.
The rule of the Shah saw a cordial and symbiotic relationship between the two nations, where each would benefit from each other.
PERIOD OF COOPERATION BETWEEN IRAN AND ISRAEL
At the height of the Cold War, Iran was seeking to modernise its military capabilities, and Israel, with its advanced technological expertise, emerged as an attractive partner next door.
On the other hand, Israel, battling an Arab oil embargo, benefitted from Iranian oil to keep its war, security and industrial machinery running. As a result, both countries entered into ‘six oil-for-arms contracts’, and the $1.2 billion ‘Operation Flower’ was one of them.
During that time, Israel even helped Iran with the training of its secret police, SAVAK, which came with the assistance of the American CIA and Israeli Mossad.
“In Iran they treated us like kings. We did business with them on a stunning scale. Without the ties with Iran, we would not have had the money to develop weaponry that is today in the front line of the defence of the State of Israel,” Israeli Defence Ministry official Yaakov Shapiro, in charge of coordinating the negotiations with Iran, was noted as saying in Israeli author Ronen Bergman’s book ‘The Secret War with Iran’.
“The Pahlavi regime sharply increased its huge military spending. Iran’s air force was, by far, the strongest in the region, and the Shah invested in a range of weapon systems. The plan to build and expand a missile capability was further consolidated through cooperation with Israel,” American political scientist Gawdat Bahgat, writes in his 2019 research paper.
Back then, Iran was the only West Asian nation to recognise the Jewish state.
THE SPECIFICS OF OPERATION FLOWER OF ISRAEL AND IRAN
The primary goal of Project Flower was to develop and modify surface-to-surface missiles, potentially capable of being fitted with nuclear warheads. Citing documents left behind by Israeli officials in Iran, the New York Times, in 1986, reported that the Israelis had conveyed that the missiles could be developed to have nuclear capabilities.
The pact to co-produce the missiles was signed in Tehran in April 1977.
“In 1978, Iran made a down payment for the missiles with $260 million worth of oil from Kharg Island [in the Persian Gulf]. Shortly after this transaction, Iranian experts began work on a missile-assembly plant near Sirjan, in central Iran,” noted Gawdat Bahgat.
“The missiles were designed to have a payload of 750 kilograms (1,650 pounds) and a range of up to 300 miles,” he added.
However, the nuclear aspect of the project was never pursued as the Israelis realised that nuclear warheads with Iran might become a threat, noted the New York Times.
Instead, the focus remained on enhancing the conventional missile capabilities of the Iranian military.
“As Israel led the development, Iran started the construction of missile assembly and test facilities, with the understanding that both countries’ armies would purchase the new defence systems once operational,” authors Dalia Dassa Kaye, Alireza Nader and Parisa Roshan noted in Israel and Iran: A Dangerous Rivalry, a 2012 publication.
FATE OF PROJECT FLOWER AFTER 1979 ISLAMIC REVOLUTION
The collaboration under Project Flower came to an abrupt halt with the Islamic Revolution in 1979, which overthrew the Shah’s regime and established an Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Khomeini.
The new regime in Iran was deeply hostile to Israel and its superpower ally, the United States, and all military collaborations with Israel were immediately terminated.
“Shortly after the Shah was overthrown, Project Flower (along with other projects) was suspended. The missiles were never delivered,” noted Gawdat Bahgat.
In the years to come, although Project Flower itself was halted, Israel continued to provide covert military assistance to Iran during the Iran-Iraq War, which began in the 1980s. But the ties were destined to get worse.
From a time when strategic interests and mutual benefits could temporarily override ideological and political differences, the relations nosedived.
Despite the abrupt end, Operation Flower, irrespective of its outcome, remains a fascinating footnote in the complex history of Iran-Israel relations, that has now turned bloody.