[51][52] Iran has established a network of allies and proxy forces across the Middle East, which it describes as part of an "axis of resistance" aimed at opposing US and Israeli interests in the area.

Israel views Iran as an existential threat on account of Tehran's rhetoric, its support for proxy forces in the region, and its arming and financing of Palestinian groups such as Hamas.

[54] U.S. intelligence officials said they believe Iran does not seek a broader conflict, arguing that the primary goal of Iranian proxies is to target Israel and the United States in a way that avoids triggering a large-scale war.

[75] By the early 1990s, Hezbollah, with support from Syria and Iran, emerged as the leading group and military power, monopolizing the directorship of the guerrilla activity in South Lebanon.

Multiple sources suggested that hundreds of Revolutionary Guard operatives participated in the firing of rockets into Israel during the war, and secured Hezbollah's long-range missiles.

The blast killed 17 Revolutionary Guard operatives, including General Hassan Moqaddam, described as a key figure in Iran's missile program.

[95] On 11 October 2011, the United States claimed to have foiled an alleged Iranian plot that included bombing the Israeli and Saudi embassies in Washington DC and Buenos Aires.

[98][99] The following day, three alleged Iranian agents were uncovered in Bangkok, Thailand, thought to have been planning to kill Israeli diplomatic officials, including the ambassador, by attaching bombs to embassy cars.

Journalist Syed Mohammed Kazmi was arrested on 6 March 2012, after being in contact with a suspect that police believe might have stuck a magnetic bomb to the diplomat's car.

[123] In what seemed to be a response ordered by Iran,[124] Hezbollah set off an explosive device on the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-controlled side of the Shebaa farms, wounding two Israeli soldiers.

In January 2014, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran's nuclear program would only be set back six weeks as a result of its interim agreement with the international community.

[144][145] Shortly after retiring as head of Mossad, Yossi Cohen admitted he oversaw the operation to steal the Iranian documents during a televised interview in June 2021.

[146] Benjamin Netanyahu's 2022 book revealed several new details of the operation, including an intent to sabotage the nuclear program by stealing irreplaceable documents, in addition to proving its mere existence.

[149] On 16 September 2019, air strikes, targeting three positions of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and allied Iraqi militias, killed at least 10 pro-Iranian militiamen in Albu Kamal, Syria.

The Iranians retaliated with Operation Martyr Soleimani, in which 11 Qiam 1 missiles hit Al-Asad Airbase, causing traumatic brain injuries to 110 American soldiers.

It has been speculated that Israel was involved,[164] and the damage at the centrifuge plant in Natanz alone could delay the Iranian nuclear weapons program by one or two years, according to intelligence officials.

[179] On 10 April 2021, Iran began injecting uranium hexafluoride gas into advanced IR-6 and IR-5 centrifuges at Natanz, but an accident occurred in the electricity distribution network the next day due to Mossad activity, according to Western and Iranian sources.

[186] On 2 June, a fire broke out at an Iranian navy vessel, the IRIS Kharg, near the port of Jask in the Gulf of Oman, although the entire crew was able to safely disembark before the ship sank.

[192] On 3 July, an Israeli-owned cargo ship was struck by an "unknown weapon" in the northern Indian Ocean, causing a fire to erupt onboard the vessel, although no injuries were reported.

[208] On 13 June, Mohammad Abdous, an Iranian Air Force scientist from the Aerospace Unit working on several projects, was killed during a mission at a base in northern Iran.

[248] Iran and its proxies, Russia and to a lesser extent China have launched a disinformation campaign against Israel, Ukraine – which condemned the attacks – and their main ally, the United States.

[253] On 23 December, a drone reportedly from Iran struck an Israeli-affiliated, Liberian-flagged chemical products tanker identified by Asian News International as MV Chem Pluto in the Arabian Sea, 200 nautical miles (370 km) southwest of the coast of Veraval, India.

[256][257] On 25 December, Sayyed Razi Mousavi, a top commander and senior adviser of the IRGC, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in the Sayyida Zeinab area.

[285][289] Thousands of Iranian operatives – as many as 10,000 by the end of 2013[286] – have fought in the Syrian civil war on the pro-government side, including regular troops and militia members.

[300] Hezbollah has grown to an organization with seats in the Lebanese government, a radio and a satellite television-station, programs for social development and large-scale military deployment of fighters beyond Lebanon's borders.

[342][343][344] The rivalry today is primarily a political and economic struggle exacerbated by religious differences, and sectarianism in the region is exploited by both countries for geopolitical purposes as part of the conflict.

[355] On 29 November 2010, two senior Iranian nuclear scientists, Majid Shahriari and Fereydoon Abbasi, were targeted by hitmen on motorcycles, who attached bombs to their cars and detonated them from a distance.

[358][359][360] Mahmoud Alavi, Iran's intelligence minister, said the person who planned the killing was "a member of the armed forces" indirectly suggesting that the perpetrator might have been from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

[364][365] In early 2011, Majid Jamali Fashi confessed to the killing of Masoud Alimohammadi on Iranian state television, saying that he had trained for the operation at a Mossad facility near Tel Aviv.

After 2001 the government of Vladimir Putin intensified Russia's involvement in the region, supporting Iran's nuclear programs and forgiving Syria 73% of its $13 billion debt.