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a history of the Middle East

Introduction

  • the Ottoman Empire dominated the Middle East from 1299 to 1918 when it was dissolved. The Ottomans united the whole region under one ruler for the first time since the reign of the Abbasid caliphs of the 10th century and captured the heavily fortified Christian Byzantine capitol of Constantinople in 1453.
  • Ottoman power declined rapidly in the 19th century and became increasingly under the financial control of European powers.
    • Greece, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria claimed independence.
    • French annexed Algeria in 1830 and Tunisia in 1878
    • British occupied Egypt in 1882 though it remained under nominal Ottoman sovereignty
  • in the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 the Ottomans were driven out of Europe altogether, except for the city of Constantinople and surrounds.
    • British established effective control of the Persian Gulf
    • the French extended their influence into Lebanon and Syria.
    • in 1912, the Italians seized Libya and the Dodecanese islands
    • The Ottomans turned to Germany to protect them from the western powers, but the result was increasing financial and military dependence on Germany.
    • In 1914, Enver Pasha's alliance with Germany led the Ottoman Empire into the fatal step of joining Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I, against Britain and France. The British saw the Ottomans as the weak link in the enemy alliance, and concentrated on knocking them out of the war. When a direct assault failed at Gallipoli in 1915, they turned to fomenting revolution in the Ottoman domains, exploiting the awakening force of Arab, Armenian, and Assyrian nationalism against the Ottomans.
    • The Allies, led by Britain, won the war and seized most of the Ottoman territories with Turkey just managing to survive.
  • post WWII Middle East was shaped by three things:
    • departure of European powers
    • the founding of Israel in 1948 and Israel's victory in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
    • the growing importance of the oil industry
  • these led to increasing US involvement and due to the cold war, also USSR involvement:
    • anti-Western revolutions as follows led to Soviet influence:
      • Egypt (1954)
      • Syria (1963)
      • Iraq (1968)
      • Libya (1969)
    • the US backed the following countries:
      • Israel
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Jordan
      • Iran (until the 1979 revolution which established a theocratic regime that was even more anti-western than the secular regimes in Iraq or Syria)
      • the Persian Gulf emirates
  • the Six-Day War of 1967 with Israel ended in a decisive loss for the Muslim side, many viewed defeat as the failure of Arab socialism. This represents a turning point when “fundamental and militant Islam began to fill the political vacuum created”
  • the fall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communism in the early 1990s had several consequences for the Middle East:
    • allowed large numbers of Soviet Jews to emigrate from Russia and Ukraine to Israel
    • cut off the easiest source of credit, armaments, and diplomatic support to the anti-western Arab regimes, weakening their position
    • opened up the prospect of cheap oil from Russia, driving down the price of oil and reducing the west's dependence on oil from the Arab states
    • discredited the model of development through authoritarian state socialism, which Egypt (under Nasser), Algeria, Syria, and Iraq had followed since the 1960s, leaving these regimes politically and economically stranded.
    • encouraged Saddam Hussein to rely upon Arab nationalism rather than socialism leading to a prolonged war between Iraq and Iran from 1980-88, and then its fateful invasion of Kuwait in 1990 resulting in the Gulf War with the US who drove Iraq out.

Modern day Arab-Israeli conflicts

  • 1948 Arab-Israeli War
  • 1956 Suez War
  • 1967 Six-Day War
  • 1970 War of Attrition
  • 1973 Yom Kippur War
  • 1982 Lebanon War

19th century

  • 1821-32, Greco-Turkish war begins & with the loss to the Greeks giving them Independence, and the power of the Turks over the Balkans diminished;
  • 1831-33: Egyptian–Ottoman War.
  • 1838: Anglo-Ottoman Treaty opens the empire to free trade of European powers
  • 1850's: British start using the Red Sea route to India (and thus allowing British women to travel to India) rather than sail around Cape of Good Hope.
  • 1854-6, Crimean War:
    • Turkey, then an under-prepared Britain & France declare war on Russia with Austria remaining neutral but becoming an enemy of Russia for doing so; 
    • Russian forces worn down in the Crimea in 1855 & the new Russian Tsar Alexander II sued for peace;
  • 1857, Anglo-Persian war ends;
  • 1858: Russia wrests control of Caucasus from Ottoman Empire. Chechnya beaten after Iman Shamil's rebels fail to establish Islamic state.
  • 1869, following a Turkish ultimatum, Greece agrees to leave Crete;
  • 1877-78: Russo-Turkish War
  • 1878, Greece declares war on Turkey;
  • 1881, Persecution of Jews in Russia; 
  • 1882: Egypt goes under British protection.

20th century

  • 1900:
  • 1901: Persian Shah Muzaffar al-Din grants British-Australian gold miner William Knox D’Arcy a 60 year oil concession covering three-fourths of Persia which ended in 1932, although the Shah of Iran re-newed the British concession in 1949. 1)
  • 1902:
  • 1903: Anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia;
  • 1904:
  • 1905: Greeks in Crete revolt against Turks;
  • 1906:
  • 1907: Royal Dutch Shell Company founded; 
  • 1908: Young Turks revolt in Macedonia, the new Ottoman Parliament, with a large Young Turk majority, meets;
  • 1909: Sultan Abdul Hamid II deposed by Young Turks; Mohammed Ali, Shah of Persia, deposed;
  • 1910:
  • 1911: Turk-Italian war with Italy defeating Turks and annexing Tripoli - 1st use of aircraft for offensive measures;
  • 1912: Turkey closes Dardanelles to shipping; Montenegro declares war on Turkey; Turkey asks Powers for intervention in Balkan War; armistice b/n Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro & Turkey;
  • 1913: Balkan War - Bulgarians take Adrianople & Turkey signs armistice; Outbreak of 2nd Balkan War - Bulgaria attacks Serbia & Greece, Russia declares war on Bulgaria, Turks recapture Adrianople, armistice signed & Bulgarian-Turkey treaty; Serbia invades Albania; peace treaty b/n Greece & Turkey;
  • 1914: Serbia-Turkey peace treaty; 
    • WWI:
      • Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to Austrian throne, & his wife assassinated in Sarajevo June 28 sparking WWI
  • 1915:
    • WWI:
      • The Ottoman Empire initiates forced deportation of Armenians.
      • Anglo-Fr-Australian landings at Gallipoli; Under the command of Mustafa Kemal, the Ottoman army successfully repels Britain invasion of the Dardanelles in Turkey.
      • Seige of Kut. 8000 British men surrender to Ottomans outside of Baghdad - the largest British surrender since Aerican Revolutionary War.
  • 1916:
    • WWI:
      • Hussein proclaimed king of the Arabs;
  • 1917:
    • WWI:
      • Russian Revolution occurs, ceasing hostilities in the Caucasus, allowing Enver Pasha to establish the Army of Islam and retake lands in eastern Anatolia from Russia, ultimately to pre-war borders.
  • 1918:
    • WWI:
      • collapse of Turkish resistance in Palestine
      • Armistice of Mudros, ending hostilities in the Middle Eastern theater of World War I, including Clause VII, stating that “The Allies to have the right to occupy any strategic points in the event of any situation arising which threatens the security of the Allies.”[6] This clause was subsequently used by the Greeks, Italians, French, and British to occupy parts of Ottoman lands felt to be in their territorial interests.
  • 1919: 
    • Greek troops land in and occupy Izmir (classical Smyrna), with Allied approval. Greek atrocities begin on the local Turkish Muslim civilian population, leading to widespread Turkish disaffection.
    • Turkish War of Independence commences
    • Fighting b/n France & Syria;
    • Egypt's Saad Zaghloul orchestrated mass demonstrations in Egypt known as the First Revolution which was repressed by the British killing 800.
  • 1920:
    • Syrian forces were defeated by the French in the Battle of Maysalun;
    • Iraqi forces were defeated by the British when they revolted.
    • Treaty of Sèvres, marking the beginning of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. Rejected by Turkish nationalists and eventually leads to the abolition of the monarchy by the Government of the Grand National Assembly based in Ankara.
    • League of Nations formed but US Senate votes against joining it;
  • 1921: Kemal defeats the British-backed Greeks in Turkey;
  • 1921 treaty of friendship between Persia and Soviet Russia
  • 1922:
    • the (nominally) independent Kingdom of Egypt was created following the British government's issuance of the Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence.
    • the great Mustapha Kemal “Ataturk” who had defeated the Anzacs at Gallipoli in WWI, removing the caliph dynasty and abolishing the Ottoman dynasty, he proclaims Turkey a republic and begins reforms to westernise Turkey;
  • 1923: Ankara replaces Istanbul as capital of Turkey;
  • 1924: Abolition of the Caliphate by Grand National Assembly of Turkey
  • 1925: Hitler reorganises Nazi Party & publishes 1st volume of “Mein Kampf”;
  • 1926: reforms in Turkey - abolition of polygamy/modernisation of female attire/prohibition of fez/adoption of Latin alphabet;
  • 1927:
  • 1928:
  • 1929:
  • 1930: Constantinople changed to Instabul;
  • 1930:
  • 1932: Ibn Saud renames his kingdom Saudi Arabia;
  • 1933: Hitler appointed German chancellor;
  • 1934:
  • 1935: German Nuremberg Laws against Jews; USSR concludes treaties with France, Czech., US & Turkey; Mussolini invades Abyssinia; Kemal adopts Swiss standards, abolishing polygamy, allowing women to vote & then adopting Latin alphabet for Turkey;
  • 1936: Mussolini & Hitler proclaim Rome-Berlin Axis; 
  • 1936:
  • 1937:
  • 1938: anti-Jewish legislation enacted in Italy; Kemal “Ataturk”, the father of modern Turkey dies;
  • 1939: earthquake in Anatolia, Turkey claims 45,000 victims;
    • world war II:
      • Germany invades Poland on 1st Sept 1939 and annexes Danzig
      • Britain & France declare war on Germany as part of the Anglo-Polish and Franco-Polish treaties of alliance
      • Cairo became a major military base for the British who then occupied Egypt who cited the 1936 treaty that allowed it to station troops on Egyptian soil to protect the Suez Canal.
  • 1940: 
    • world war II:
  • 1941:
    • world war II:
      • the Rashīd `Alī al-Gaylānī coup in Iraq led to the British invading, leading to the Anglo-Iraqi War.
      • British invade Abyssinia (Ethiopia); German counter-offensive in north Africa;
      • Rommel attacks Tobruk;
      • Hitler created a new urgency in the Zionist quest to immigrate to Palestine and create a Jewish state leading to conflicts with Arabian and Persian nationalism who wanted a Palestine state.
  • 1942:
    • world war II:
      • the 26 Allies pledge not to make separate peace treaties with the enemies;
      • Rommel takes Tobruk;
      • battle of El Alamein begins; 400,000 US troops land in French North Africa;
      • Rommel in full retreat loses Tobruk & Benghazi;
  • 1943:
    • world war II:
      • Lebanon independence
  • 1944:
    • world war II:
      • Syrian independence
  • 1945:
    • world war II ends
      • League of nations holds last meeting in Geneva & signs assets over to United Nations;
    • Arab League founded to oppose creation of Jewish state;
  • 1946: Albania, Hungary, Transjordan, & Bulgaria become independent states; Britain & France evacuate Lebanon;
  • 1947:
    • British proposal to divide Palestine rejected by Arabs & Jews, & thus deferred to UN which announces plan for partition;
    • Iraq independence
    • Egypt independence with British forces withdrawing to the Suez Canal
  • 1948:
    • Jewish state founded;
    • Arab-Israeli War
      • the armies of Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia intervened and were defeated by Israel.
      • 800,000 Palestinians fled from areas annexed by Israel and became refugees in neighbouring countries, thus creating the “Palestinian problem”, which has troubled the region ever since.
      • two-thirds of 758,000–866,000 of the Jews expelled or who fled from Arab lands after 1948 were absorbed and naturalized by the State of Israel.
  • 1949: Israel admitted to UN; Transjordan renamed Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan;
  • 1949: Shah of Iran renews the British oil concession creating unrest amongst Iranians, many of who feel the British are evil and manipulative and are the cause of their economic woes.
  • 1950: Iran holds new elections after rioting from the Shah-manipulated 1949 elections
  • 1951: Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlav appoints the National Front supported Mossadegh as Iranian PM who starts to nationalise the oil industry (AIOC of which Britain had owned 50% of its stock, and many Iranians were convinced that British intrigue and evil approaches was at the root of every domestic misfortune) to stop it being exported - this caused major issues with UK and USA - the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC, later renamed British Petroleum, now known as BP) had become rich on Iranian oil and it was a major factor in Britain's economic growth ever since Shah Muzaffar al-Din granted William Knox D’Arcy a 60 year oil concession covering three-fourths of Persia in 1901 which ended in 1932, although the Shah of Iran renewed the British oil concession in 1949. 2).
  • 1951: King Abdullah of Jordan assassinated in Jerusalem;
  • 1952: 
    • Egypt: anti-British riots erupt; Gen. Naguib seizes power, King Farouk abdicates in favour of his son. 1923 constitution abolished;
    • Israel & Germany agree on restitution for damages done to Jews by Nazis;
  • 1952-53: Iranian nationalism and worsening oil conflict with Britain
    • Iranian PM Mossadegh severs diplomatic relations with British and all British leave Iran.
    • the Iranian National Front and its support of the PM begin to unravel in late 1952 and early 1953 as PM Mossadegh grew increasingly dictatorial.
    • Ayatollah Abul Quassem Kashani, a key Islamic cleric in the National Front, had turned against Mossadeq and quit the Front, as had Mozaffar Baqai’s Toilers’ Party.
    • Kashani’s defection was a particularly hard blow because his group, the Warriors of Islam, included the bazaar merchants of Tehran and many mullahs (Islamic clerics).
    • they represented different constituencies and interests were united only in their opposition to the British and nationalization of the AIOC did not produce the bonanza for Iran that Mossadeq had hoped it would.
  • 1953: Egypt becomes a republic; USSR severs relations with Israel from Feb-July; Stalin dies;
  • 1953: Iranian de-facto dictatorship
    • the Shah replaces Mossadegh but is soon forced to reverse this. The re-instated popular Iranian PM Mossadegh strips the Shah of his land and powers, purges the Iranian officer corps, makes himself War Minister in response to increasing British military threats. The PM's dissolution of the Majlis (by law only the Shah could do this) and the subsequent tainted referendum alienated Iranian liberals and conservatives alike. Ayatollah Kashani declared the referendum illegal under Islamic religious law. Mossadeq hoped for US support in his struggle against the British. Like many in the Third World immediately after World War II, he saw the United States as an anti-colonial power. However, despite the US perception that Mossadegh would provide protection from Soviet communism influences in Iran, the US needed UK support elsewhere such as with the newly formed NATO and in the Korean war. Furthermore, the US had concerns that the Soviet-backed Tudeh — Iran’s best organized, best financed, and most effective political organization and who were important supporters of Mossadegh might fill any void in leadership.
  • 1953: Dwight Eisenhower becomes US President and with the death of Stalin, ongoing pressure from the British, increasing Iranian-Soviet relationships, and the deteriorating situation in Iran, US policy in Iran changes and a decision is made that Mossadegh must go but feared a Kashani-led govt would be even worse for Western interests so reluctantly considered Zahedi as his best replacement. US CIA's covert Operation Ajax3) in Aug 1953 presumably with support of Britain, cause street riots and the de facto US-led overthrow of Iranian PM Mossadegh then force the Shah to reverse the export bans on oil but this would plant the seed for decades of anti-Americanism feeling in Iran. The shah was now seen as a “puppet” for the US and Brits and any hopes for the fledgling Iranian democracy were extinguished. The shah would rule over Iran for almost another three decades and it is during this period that Iran's nuclear program began. The shah and US president Dwight Eisenhower signed a nuclear cooperation agreement, a research centre was established at Tehran University and when the Treaty for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was opened for signatures in 1968, Iran signed on the very first day.
  • 1954: Nasser seizes power in Egypt;
  • 1955: raids on Israel-Jordan border increase;
  • 1956: Jordan & Israel accept UN truce proposals; 
    • Egyptian crisis:
      • Israeli troops invade Sinai Peninsula; Anglo-Fr. ultimatum in Egypt & Israel; US sends aid to Israel; Nasser elected President of Egypt; US & Brit. inform Egypt they will not finance Aswan High Dam; Nasser seizes Suez Canal; Brit. & Fr. nationals leave Egypt; Anglo-Fr. forces bomb Egyptian airfields; US & USSR pressures effect Egyptian ceasefire; Fr. & Brit. troops withdraw from Egypt;
  • 1957: Eisenhower formulates “Eisenhower Doctrine” for protection of Middle Eastern nations from Communist aggression; Israel withdraws from Sinai Pen. & hand over Gaza strip to UN forces; US resumes aid to Israel; King Hussein declares martial law in Jordan; 
  • 1958: European Common Market; Egypt & Sudan join to form United Arab Republic; England & Spain sign trade pact; USSR grants loan to UAR for building Aswan Dam;
  • 1959: Britain & UAR resume diplomatic relations;
  • 1960: Cyprus independence
  • 1961:
  • 1962: earthquake in northwestern Iran kills 10,000; 
  • 1963: UAR, Syria & Iraq agree to union;
  • 1964: UN peace force takes over in Cyprus; Turkish planes attack Cyprus; King Saud of Saudi Arabia deposed, his son, Faisal becomes king; 
  • early 1960's: Israeli intelligence agency Mossad sends parcel bombs to German scientists helping Egypt build rockets that could potentially carry radioactive waste.
  • 1966:
  • 1967: Israeli forces use tanks against Syria; Israeli Mirage fighters shoot down 6 Syrian MIG-21s; six-day war b/n Israel & Arab nations;
  • 1968: Treaty for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) opens for membership - US-backed Iran signs up but Israel doesn't despite it thought that Israel had developed nuclear weapons in the 1960's and as of 2025, Israel still does not permit nuclear inspections by anyone, not even the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
  • 1968: Aswan Dam completed; Iran earthquake kills 12,000; 
  • 1969: Al Fatah leader Yasir Arafat elected Chairman of Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) & shifts his main guerilla forces to Jordan;
  • 1970: Arab commandos hijack 3 passenger jets;
  • 1971: Algeria seizes control of all French oil & gas interests within its borders but promises restitution;
  • 1972: Arab terrorists kill 2 Jewish athletes in Munich Olympics;
  • 1973: Arab-Israeli fighting breaks out again; OPEC oil embargo; E & W Germany establish diplomatic relations; 
  • 1974: Kissinger finally persuades Syria & Israel to agree to ceasefire;
  • 1975:
  • 1979: Soviets invade Afghanistan;
  • 1979: Iranian revolution and formation of an authoritarian Shia Islamic state based on Sharia Islamic law
    • persistent anti-American sentiment in Iran since the US interference in 1953, a fractured Iranian society, with the fake promises of the exiled Islamic leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini living in Iraq, led to the 1979 revolution against the US-back Shah of Iran - over 2 million protested in anti-Shah protests in Dec 1978 leading to the flight of the Shah and 63 of his family from Iran in Jan 1979, never to return but sustained by wealth hidden in foreign banks. The Shah was then replaced by the returning Ayatollah Khomeini who instead of creating his democratic state, created a fundamentalist authoritarian Islamic state - the Islamic Republic which resulted in violent repression of peaceful protests and pervasive institutional discrimination against women and girls. Ayatollah Khomeini became the first Supreme Leader. Industries were nationalized, laws and schools Islamicized, and Western influence restricted.
  • 1980: Sept: Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi army surprisingly invaded Iran at Khuzestan, precipitating the Iran–Iraq War.
  • 1981: Israel PM Menachem Begin's “Begin policy” of “We shall not allow any enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction turned against us.” as Israel launched air strikes on a nuclear reactor in Iraq - Begin said “This attack will be a precedent for every future government in Israel”
  • 1982:
  • 1983:
  • 1986:
  • 1988: The Iran-Iraq war ended in a stalemate in a UN-mediated truce, having killed ~500,000 people and during which Saddam extensively used chemical weapons against Iranians.
  • 1989: Gorbachev decides to withdraw Soviet troops from fruitless campaign in Afghanistan
  • 1989: Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini dies and is replaced as Supreme Leader by president Ali Khamenei. The new President Akbar Rafsanjani was a reformist who supported a free market, favouring privatisation of state industries and a moderate position internationally.
  • 1990: 35,000 killed in Iranian earthquake;
  • 1991:  
  • 1994:
  • 1995:
  • 1996:
  • 1997: Iranian President Rafsanjani was succeeded by moderate reformist Mohammad Khatami, whose government advocated freedom of expression, constructive diplomatic relations with Asia and the European Union, and policy that supported a free market and foreign investment.
  • 1997: Chechnya sinks into anarchy & under influence of militant Arab Wahhabi fighters.
  • 1999: Chechen fighters stage incursion into Dagestan, residential blocks blown up in Moscow & Volgadonsk killing 300. Chechen insurgents blamed. War breaks out again.

21st century

  • 2000: Russian troops capture Grozny in Chechnya. Acting Pres. Putin imposes direct rule from Moscow.
  • 200: Bashar al-Assad becomes dictator of Syria which was to become characterized by extensive human rights violations, war crimes, and a pervasive security apparatus.
  • 2003:
    • Saddam Hussein finally captured;
    • Bam earthquake in Iran kills over 40,000 
  • 2004:
  • 2005: Iranian elections result in conservative populist and nationalist candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad becoming President and was known for his hardline views, nuclearisation, and hostility towards Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UK, US and other states.
  • 2006:
    • Israel invades Lebanon in retaliation for their harbouring of Hezbollah.
  • 2007:
    • Israel carries out a covert attack on an undeclared nuclear site in Syria
  • 2008:
  • 2009: Iran's Fordo nuclear site built under a mountain becomes global knowledge although US intelligence agencies had known about it earlier.
  • 2010: covert US instituted Stuxnet computer worm cyberattack on Iran's Natanz nuclear facility which shut down its centrifuges despite it being totally disconnected from internet or networks so presumably was installed via a USB stick
  • 2010: Iranian nuclear physicist Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani survived an assassination attempt which Tehran blamed on Israeli intelligence
  • 2013, centrist and reformist Hassan Rouhani was elected president of Iran. He encouraged personal freedom, free access to information, and improved women's rights.
  • 2015: Iran agrees to Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) an agreement between Iran, the P5+1 (UN Security Council + Germany) and the EU to end economic sanctions on Iran in return for Iran agreeing not to develop a nuclear weapon
  • 2018: US Pres. Trump withdraws from JCPOA - this agreement had apparently been working but termination of it apparently resulted in Iran ramping up its nuclear program.
  • 2020: Iran's IRGC general, Qasem Soleimani, the 2nd-most powerful person in Iran, was assassinated by the US, heightening tensions between them. Iran retaliated against US airbases in Iraq, the largest ballistic missile attack ever on Americans and resulted in 110 sustaining brain injuries.
  • 2021: hardliner Ebrahim Raisi elected Iranian President who intensified uranium enrichment, hindered international inspections, joined SCO and BRICS, supported Russia in its Ukraine invasion and restored diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
  • 2023: March, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that it had discovered uranium that had been enriched to 83.7% purity in Fordo, Iran — close to the enrichment level, 90%, necessary for nuclear weapons.
  • 2023: Gaza War starts after Palestinian Hamas militants storm into Israel killing 815 and capturing 251 Israelis including those attending a music festival on 7th Oct 2023.
  • 2024: April: Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killed an IRGC commander. Iran retaliated with UAVs, cruise and ballistic missiles; 9 hit Israel. It was the largest drone strike in history, the biggest missile attack in Iranian history, its first ever direct attack on Israel and the first time since 1991, Israel was directly attacked by a state force.
  • 2024: May: Iranian President Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash, resulting in reformist and former Minister of Health, Masoud Pezeshkian, being elected.
  • 2024 Sept: Israel booby-traps thousands of pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah which exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least 12 people – including two children and four hospital workers – and wounding thousands more.
  • 2024 Oct: Iran launched 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah and Abbas Nilforoushan. Israel struck Iranian military sites.
  • 2024 Dec: Syria's Assad dictatorship regime collapses further weakening Iran's support base.
  • 2025: April: Iran and the US entered negotiations for a new nuclear agreement, but progress stalled as Iran declared domestic uranium enrichment a red line.
  • 2025: Israel-Iran war
    • June 2025: the IAEA board of governors issue a censure resolution against the Iranian government for its lack of cooperation and declared Iran was in breach of its NPT obligations and said it could not assure that Iran's nuclear program was only peaceful. The irony is that Israel, is still not a signatory to NPT and still does not allow IAEA inspectors despite it being thought to have had nuclear weapons since the 1960s.
    • June 2025: Israel bombs Iran's nuclear facilities (particularly targeting their electrical supplies needed for the centrifuges) and kills their military leaders resulting in Iranian missile bombardment of Israel and on 22/6/25 US PM Trump joining with Israel to bombard Iran's Fordo nuclear facility and two other nuclear sites, Natanz and Isfahan. The decision was apparently based on the need for US 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs to destroy these underground sites and only the US has this capability and further attacks by Israel alone were unlikely to remove the nuclear threat in Iran.
1) , 2)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Arcy_Concession
3)
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/the%20central%20intelligence%20%5B15369853%5D.pdf
history/h_middleeast.txt · Last modified: 2025/06/26 23:09 by gary1
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