Iran's Historical Support for Militant Groups Undermined 1990s Middle East Peace Process

supported Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, with funding, training, and bomb-making instruction during the 1990s to undermine the Oslo peace process.

U.S. federal court determined that Hamas received between $25 million and $50 million from Iran during 1995-1996. This period marked heightened Iranian involvement, with annual funding to anti-peace militant organizations ranging from $100 million to $200 million, equivalent to $200 million to $400 million in current dollars.

The support facilitated attacks such as suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians, which intensified Israeli security measures like checkpoints and closures. These measures restricted Palestinian access to jobs in Israel, reducing support for the accords among Palestinians.

Israeli military intelligence assessed that Iran aimed to influence the 1996 elections in favor of Benjamin Netanyahu, who won by approximately 30,000 votes.

" — Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as reported in The Atlantic (undated reference to 1990s).

in the 1990s The peace process began with secret talks in Oslo, leading to agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993, followed by normalization with parts of the Arab world and a 1994 peace treaty with Jordan.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, backed by Iran, responded with a wave of suicide bombings, a new tactic introduced to the conflict. One notable attack was the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre by an Israeli far-right extremist, which heightened tensions alongside the militant bombings.

In 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist opposed to the peace process.

Shimon Peres, Rabin's successor, continued negotiations, and public opinion in Israel and among Palestinians largely supported the accords at the time. However, persistent attacks by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, supported by Iran and Hezbollah, fostered skepticism and contributed to the erosion of the process.

Hassan Salameh, a Hamas commander convicted for planning 1996 attacks that killed dozens of Israelis, received weapons training in Iran.

These attacks occurred ahead of elections and helped shift voter sentiment toward Netanyahu's Likud party. Iran's strategy extended to cooperation with Hezbollah to resist normalization of Israel's relations with neighbors.

The Oslo Accords created administrative zones in the West Bank that structure governance today and led to economic investments and a Nobel Peace Prize for Rabin and Arafat in 1994.

Despite this, the violence campaign resulted in hundreds, then thousands, of deaths over two decades. Support for a two-state solution in Israel declined from majority backing in the 1990s to about one in five by 2025, per Pew Research Center data. Iran was not the sole factor in the peace process's failure; Palestinian opposition to the accords existed prior to Iranian involvement, and Israel's right-wing expansion of settlements created obstacles.

Netanyahu, after taking office in 1996, described the accords as a mistake while initially continuing some implementations, such as territory transfers to the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli right has won most elections since 1996, limiting territorial compromises.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in recent conflicts, later described resistance to Oslo as prompting closer ties among Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Iran's actions aligned with a broader, undeclared effort against regional peace agreements starting over 30 years ago. The current Middle East conflict connects to this legacy of disrupted negotiations.