Exporting the Islamic Revolution was one of the Iranian revolution's original, basic objectives. Iran seeks regional hegemony and dominance of the Muslim world, and to that end has developed a network of underground organizations and terrorist groups within Islamic (especially Shi'ite) communities in the Middle East and around the world, including Africa, Latin America, Asia and beyond.
As one of Iran's main tools for exporting the revolution, Iran supports countries and organizations using terrorism to attack Israeli, American and Western interests; Iran seeks to destabilize and subvert pro-Western regimes to promote its own interests.
Israeli-Iranian relations had their ups and downs. During the reign of the Shah of Iran the two countries were allied politically. After the revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, Iran revoked its recognition of Israel and ended all official relations with it. Khomeini often publicly expressed his extremist anti-Israeli, anti-Zionist positions even while living in exile. Relations between Iran and Israel became even more strained when Ahmadinejad rose to power in 2005. The regime in Iran repeatedly states its intention of destroying Israel and its policies, which include Holocaust denial, are both anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic.
To implement its anti-Israeli policies Iran has broadened its ties to the terrorist organizations operating against Israel. Iran encourages the terrorist organizations, especially the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, to attack Israel, and finances and arms both organizations. In recent years large shipments of weapons from Iran have been intercepted as they were en route to the Palestinian terrorist organizations.
To promote its regional and global interests and aspirations, Iran is developing military nuclear capabilities and developing long-range missiles and war heads which can reach Israel, the rest of the Middle East and Europe.