Israel at War: The Iranian Involvement

Over a month has passed since the October 7 massacre of Israeli citizens perpetrated by Hamas terrorists and Gazan civilian accomplices. The most vicious attack against Jews since the Holocaust brought an unprecedented number of Israeli casualties: 1400 killed; 240 hostages held by Hamas, among them 32 children; over 7200 injured; and over 250,000 displaced, evacuated from their homes. In this podcast, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Dr. Raz Zimmt, an expert on Iran at INSS and author of the book Iran From Within: State and Society in the Islamic Republic (in Hebrew), published in 2022. Together they discuss the current Iranian involvement in the Israel-Hamas war. To what extent was Iran part of the planning and execution of the massacre of October 7? What is its role in the war? How large is the threat of further escalation, and are there “escalation steps” from Iran’s perspective? What are the relations between Iran and its proxies in the Middle East with regard to the war? And what are Iran’s interests and considerations regarding the “day after”?