2002 – Revelation that Iran has a secret uranium enrichment program prompted concern that it was trying to build a nuclear weapon, which it denied. Israel urges tough action against Tehran.

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2006 – Israel fights Hezbollah in a month-long war in Lebanon but is unable to crush the heavily armed group.

2009 – In a speech, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls Israel “a dangerous and fatal cancer”.

2010 – Stuxnet, a malicious computer virus widely believed to have been developed by the United States and Israel, is used to attack a uranium enrichment facility at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site. It is the first publicly known cyberattack on industrial machinery.

2021 – Iran blames Israel for the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, viewed by Western intelligence services as the mastermind of a covert Iranian program to develop nuclear weapons capability. Tehran has long denied any such ambition.

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2022 – US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid sign a joint pledge to deny Iran nuclear arms, in a show of unity by allies long divided over diplomacy with Tehran.

The undertaking, part of a “Jerusalem Declaration” crowning Biden’s first visit to Israel as president, came a day after he told a local television station he was open to “last resort” use of force against Iran – an apparent move towards accommodating Israel’s calls for a “credible military threat” by world powers.

2024 – In early April, a suspected Israeli air strike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus kills seven officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, including two senior commanders. Israel does not confirm or deny responsibility.