As any diplomat will tell you, your friends' friends aren’t necessarily your friends. We knew that at the start of the war in Ukraine, when Israel made sure to keep up relations with Russia so it could keep on targeting Moscow ally Syria. Did that all change last Saturday night in Isfahan? Israeli drones reportedly targeted a defence facility in Iran's third-largest city.
What do we know about the raid and the target? Isfahan is a hub for Iran's nuclear programme and also for the production of drones used in battle by the Russians in Ukraine. Already Kyiv's ambassador to Tehran has been summoned over a celebratory tweet by a presidential adviser.
And then there's the timing of the raid: it comes sandwiched between visits to Israel by the CIA director and the US secretary of state, hot on the heels of joint US-Israeli war exercises.
The US also happens to be Ukraine's top backer against Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Do events in the Middle East make Israel an ally of Ukraine against Russia?
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Aline Bottin and Louise Guibert.
