Israeli-Iranian alliance matters more than ever

Many of my Israeli followers ask me the same question: “Do you think Iranians will want peace with Israel after the fall of the Islamic regime?”

Given that the Islamic regime occupying Iran and its mega mafia paramilitary arm, the IRGC, represent the greatest existential threat to Israel, the only Jewish state in the world encompassing an area a third the size of Tasmania – such scepticism is entirely valid.

While Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has stated that recognising Israel would be among the very first diplomatic steps of a post-Islamic Republic Iran through initiatives such as the proposed Cyrus Accords, I want to address this question from a deeper cultural and philosophical perspective – from the soul of the Iranian people themselves.

Antisemitism is not indigenous to Iranian identity. It is a political and ideological import largely tied to the Islamic conquest.

Iran currently stands at a crossroads between an imposed Islamic ideology and the rediscovery of its historical and philosophical foundations. When Khomeini returned to Tehran in 1979, he established a revolutionary globalist theocratic system that placed hostility toward Israel at the centre of its geopolitical doctrine, rooted in ideological narratives dating back to the Islamic invasion in the seventh century. The regime’s worldview relies heavily on external enemies, with Israel portrayed as the “Little Satan”.

However, the Iranian people have long resisted Islamic subjugation. Iranian civilisation predates Islam by millennia and is rooted in Zoroastrian philosophical traditions that were amplified under Cyrus the Great, who famously liberated the Jewish population from Babylonian captivity – an event commemorated in the Hebrew Bible and often cited as history’s earliest example of human rights and tolerance. Many label Cyrus the Great as the very first Zionist.

Hostility toward Jews intensified under ideological Islamic frameworks that defined them as adversaries within jihadist narratives. Reinforced by 20th-century Soviet-style Marxist ideology, the anti-Israel sentiment has acted merely as a mind virus.

Today, Iranians are undergoing a profound psychological and cultural shift often referred to as the “Iranian Renaissance” – a rediscovery of pre-Islamic identity alongside secular and pluralistic values. Evidence of this shift is visible both inside Iran and throughout the diaspora.

The ongoing uprising against the Islamic regime has resulted in over 50,000 killed amid one of the longest internet blackouts in modern history, with the IRGC deploying foreign Islamist militias from across the Middle East. The scale of repression underscores the extent to which Iranians reject clerical rule.

The data also highlights this shift. Independent assessments suggest that more than 90 per cent of Iranians oppose the regime. Fewer than 30 per cent now openly identify as Muslim, with rapid growth in conversions to Christianity and renewed interest in Zoroastrian heritage, while many identify as secular, agnostic, or atheist. Clerics themselves have acknowledged collapsing religious participation, with reports suggesting that up to 50,000 of Iran’s 75,000 mosques face closure due to declining attendance. In some protests, mosques have even been targeted and burned, symbolising the depth of public disillusionment with Islamic ruling.

Large demonstrations across cities such as Los Angeles, Toronto and Sydney also display a strikingly parallel message in the diaspora community: the traditional Iranian Lion and Sun emblem alongside the flags of Israel, the United States and nations such as Australia.

This is precisely what Islamists fear most – and explains why regional powers, from segments of the Arab leadership to Turkey under Erdoğan, have consistently pushed for negotiations designed to preserve the Khamenei regime.

In short, a free Iran would pave the way for peace with Israel – a geopolitical shift that would severely undermine the global sharia project.

Patriotism and cultural continuity has largely shaped the Iranian identity, rather than Islamic expansionism. This patriotism is increasingly expressed through a desire to restore diplomatic normalcy and rebuild historic relationships, including with the Jewish people.

One of the most popular chants among Iranians is, “Not Gaza, not Lebanon – my life only for Iran”. For many Iranians, Islamic expansionism is associated with decades of stolen national wealth used by kleptocrats to fuel Islamic militancy, resulting only in suffering and repression at home – including the Palestinian cause.

In fact, many revolutionaries involved in the 1979 Islamo-Marxist coup trained in PLO camps across the Middle East, further deepening public resentment. In much the same way Christopher Hitchens described Khomeini’s encouragement of high birth rates in the 1980s, intended to produce future soldiers of Allah, as a “Baby Boomerang” that would ultimately backfire, the Palestinian cause imposed on Iranians has similarly rebounded. Increasingly, Iranians are rejecting it, embracing peace with the Jewish people, engagement with the West, and coexistence with the world.

Once the Ayatollah rule ends, there is no logical basis for hostility between Iranians and Israelis.

An Israeli–Iranian alliance would not represent a new geopolitical experiment, but the restoration of a historically grounded relationship between two ancient peoples.

It is precisely this alliance that Islamists fear most.

For those wishing to show support, an Australian Parliamentary petition remains open until March 4 and will be tabled if sufficient signatures are obtained.

Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has also announced international rallies on February 14. In Sydney, the rally will be held from 3pm at Hyde Park.

Ali Beikzadeh is a Sydney-based Australian-Iranian human rights activist