Gorbachev and Reagan: A Friendship that Ended the Cold War

Mikhail Gorbachev met his US counterpart Ronald Reagan for the first time in Geneva in 1985 for talks on revitalizing international relations between the superpowers (AFP)
Mikhail Gorbachev met his US counterpart Ronald Reagan for the first time in Geneva in 1985 for talks on revitalizing international relations between the superpowers (AFP)
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Gorbachev and Reagan: A Friendship that Ended the Cold War

Mikhail Gorbachev met his US counterpart Ronald Reagan for the first time in Geneva in 1985 for talks on revitalizing international relations between the superpowers (AFP)
Mikhail Gorbachev met his US counterpart Ronald Reagan for the first time in Geneva in 1985 for talks on revitalizing international relations between the superpowers (AFP)

Mikhail Gorbachev stepped onto a Washington street and began shaking hands to cheers and applause in 1990 -- a bit of unaccustomed political showmanship worthy of his friend Ronald Reagan.

Ana Maria Guzman was in the park on her lunch break that May when she saw the Soviet leader, who died on Tuesday at 91, AFP said.

"We knew he was in town and we saw his motorcade. Then he just got out of his limousine and began shaking hands," she recalled. "It was very emotional. He was like a people's person. Wow!"

It was the personal touch that Reagan, the Hollywood actor who became president and an icon of the American right, was known for.

Reagan and Gorbachev broke through decades of tensions between their countries to form one of the unlikeliest relationships of the 20th century, bonding over their shared desire to reduce nuclear tensions and ultimately bringing about a momentous shift in world politics.

- Overcoming decades of mistrust -
At the beginning, the longtime Soviet apparatchik had almost nothing in common with his US counterpart.

The two came from countries where mistrust of the other was set in cement.

But when Reagan came to office in 1981, one of his primary -- and secret -- goals was to ease Cold War and nuclear tensions with Moscow.

He made overtures to three Soviet leaders -- Leonid Brezhnev, Turi Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko -- but all were change-resistant and none survived long enough to establish a relationship.

When Gorbachev became Communist party general secretary in March 1985 after Chernenko's death, the White House sensed a potential opening, said Jack Matlock, then Reagan's top negotiator with Moscow and later ambassador to Russia.

"Early in his term, Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an evil empire," Matlock told AFP.

"But from the very beginning, he talked about negotiating and the possibility of establishing a peaceful relationship if the Soviet leader was willing to get along with the free world."

"There was very little response until Gorbachev. With Gorbachev, they finally began communicating, and within two or three years, they were almost, you might say, reading off the same piece of music."

Gorbachev was no blind idealist, said John Lenczowski, who was principal Soviet affairs adviser on Reagan's national security council.

The White House understood he was inheriting a weakened economy, a military that saw the Pentagon as increasingly superior and threatening, and a Communist Party rotting from the inside out.

Gorbachev needed to ease the military competition with the United States first if he was to address the other two challenges and preserve the Soviet Union.

"He came in to the general secretaryship seeing that the Soviet Union was in a state of multiple crises. He was trying to overcome those crises in order to save the Soviet system," said Lenczowski.

Reagan, for his part, saw Kremlin paranoia about the United States as dangerous for both.

"Reagan began to think that we really needed to tone it down, and to try to manage the relationship a little bit more gently," said Lenczowski.

He saw "that we were in a position of strength to negotiate better with Moscow, and that we should explore some of the different venues."

- Slow start -
Reagan had an invitation to visit Washington passed on to Gorbachev at Chernenko's funeral, but nothing much happened for months.

Still, the White House perceived a change in tone as the two sides discussed advancing nuclear arms control negotiations.

"Basically, they were both men of peace," said Matlock.

"Gorbachev really realized, increasingly, he had a system that needed to change. But he couldn't really change it as long as there was a Cold War going on, and you had the arms race."

"And I think that Reagan understood that. And Reagan was not out to bring down the Soviet Union."

Their big ice-breaker was a summit in Geneva in November 1985. Talks were tense, and little was agreed. But the two leaders had several one-on-one conversations, sowing the seeds of trust.

One year later, the two met in Reykjavik for more talks, again with only slight progress.

Media called the summit a failure, but in fact, Matlock recalled, both sides found more common ground. Detente was taking root.

When Gorbachev came to Washington in December 1987, he and Reagan were able to sign the landmark treaty on limiting intermediate range nuclear forces.

At first he thought Reagan was very conservative," Matlock said of Gorbachev.

"But as time went on, and as they began to agree, more and more they actually became friends."

Long after he was shunted aside in Russian politics, Gorbachev would return to the United States in 2004 for Reagan's funeral.

"I think they both had similar ideals. They both hated nuclear weapons, and hoped that they could abolish them, that's the truth," Matlock said.

"Very few on their staffs thought that that was going to be possible, but they did."



What Role Did the ‘Mossad-Tehran Branch’ Play in Operation Rising Lion?

People gather near a damaged building, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
People gather near a damaged building, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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What Role Did the ‘Mossad-Tehran Branch’ Play in Operation Rising Lion?

People gather near a damaged building, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
People gather near a damaged building, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Just hours after launching its military operation “Rising Lion” against Iran, Israel revealed an extensive and long-standing intelligence campaign conducted by its spy agency Mossad deep inside Iranian territory, especially in the capital, where it reportedly established a covert branch.

According to an Israeli security source on Friday, Mossad special units carried out a series of covert operations inside Iran in the lead-up to the strikes. These included deploying precision-guided weapons near surface-to-air missile sites, using advanced technology to disrupt Iranian air defenses, and establishing a drone launch base close to Tehran.

The source said Friday’s operation was a joint effort between the Israeli military, Mossad, and the country’s defense industry, built on years of meticulous planning and intelligence-gathering. Israeli media, including Yedioth Ahronoth, reported that Mossad had established the drone base long before the strike, with explosive-laden UAVs later launched toward Iranian missile sites.

The attack reflects Israel’s broader, long-term strategy toward Iran, built on the combined efforts of its military and intelligence services. While Iran has maintained that the strikes were conducted entirely from outside the country, seeking to avoid acknowledging serious internal security breaches, Israel insists that Mossad played a decisive role on the ground.

The agency is credited with assassinations of IRGC and Iranian military figures, data collection on nuclear scientists, and compiling a high-value target list.

An Israeli security source claimed Mossad established a “branch” inside Tehran, planting surveillance devices across dozens of locations and even executing sabotage operations near nuclear facilities and missile launch sites.

While some analysts view these claims as psychological warfare or propaganda, evidence from past operations suggests a degree of credibility. Over the years, Israel has conducted bold, complex missions inside Iran that appear too sophisticated to have originated solely from outside.

Mossad’s activity in Iran dates back years but intensified significantly in the last two. According to Israeli sources, the agency effectively set up a wide-reaching operational base inside Iran, complete with advanced equipment and transport assets.

Mossad has been linked to the assassinations of at least four Iranian nuclear scientists: Masoud Alimohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Darioush Rezaeinejad, and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan - between 2010 and 2012 - most of them killed using magnetic bombs in central Tehran. In 2020, top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in an ambush attributed to a Mossad unit.

The most high-profile operation came in 2018, when Mossad agents reportedly stole Iran’s nuclear archive, including 50,000 documents and 163 CDs, from a Tehran warehouse in a seven-hour raid. According to former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, who oversaw the mission, the 20-member team (none of whom were Israeli nationals) operated inside Iran for two years before executing the mission undetected.

Though Iranian officials initially dismissed the scale of the operation, they later claimed to have arrested “all the terrorists” who helped Mossad, blaming opposition groups like the MEK. However, Israel insists it relied not on political dissidents, but on individuals disillusioned with the regime, mercenaries, and Western intelligence support.

A retired Mossad officer, known only as Brig. Gen. “A”, told the right-wing Israeli group The Guardians that Iran’s internal repression and isolation have left it vulnerable. He stressed the close cooperation between Mossad, Israeli military intelligence, and the defense industry in preparing for the confrontation with Iran.

Operation “Rising Lion,” launched this week, included direct strikes on neighborhoods housing top IRGC commanders in Tehran. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described it as a “preemptive strike,” following warnings from US President Donald Trump about an imminent Israeli military operation targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.