Israel's political representation in Iran, also referred to as the Embassy of Israel in Tehran (), was a large three-story building on ''Kakh Boulevard'' (now ''Palestine Street'') in the capital of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, that was owned by the Israeli diplomatic mission. Embassy of Israel in Tehran, was the diplomatic mission of Israel in Iran when Iran and Israel had diplomatic relations from 1948 to 1979, the year of the

Iranian revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

. This agency was active in Tehran since 1960 and until a few days before February 11, 1979, but after the fall of the

Pahlavi dynasty The Pahlavi dynasty () is an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian royal dynasty that was the Pahlavi Iran, last to rule Iran before the country's monarchy was abolished by the Iranian Revolution in 1979. It was founded in 1925 by Reza Shah, Reza S ...

and the victory of the

, it was attacked by the revolutionaries and was handed over to Palestinian guerillas who were members of the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

by installing the

Palestinian flag The flag of the State of Palestine () is a tricolour of three equal horizontal stripes—black, white, and green from top to bottom—overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the hoist. It displays the pan-Arab colours, which were first comb ...

. Following the visit of

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

, the leader of the

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

movement, to

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

on February 17, 1979, that is, exactly 6 days after the victory of the Iranian revolution, the sign "Embassy of Palestine" was installed on top of the political representation of Israel, and two days later, on February 19, Yasser Arafat along with

Ahmad Khomeini Sayyid Ahmad Khomeini (;‎ 14 March 1946 – 17 March 1995) was the younger son of Ruhollah Khomeini and father of Hassan Khomeini. He was the "right-hand" of his father before, during and after the Iranian Revolution. He was a link between R ...

and

Ebrahim Yazdi Ebrahim Yazdi (; 26 September 1931 – 27 August 2017) was an Iranian peoples, Iranian politician, pharmacist, and diplomat who served as deputy prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs (Iran), minister of foreign affairs in the Interim Go ...

, attended the former Israeli embassy and opened the Palestinian embassy in Tehran. Also, the names of ''Kakh Street'' and ''Kakh Square'' were changed to ''Palestine Street'' and ''Palestine Square'', respectively.

History

During the reign of Mohammed Reza Shah, Iran became the second Muslim country after Turkey to recognize Israel. But after the Iranian Islamic revolution of 1979, the Israel embassy in Iran was closed. After that, Iran never recognized Israel. Zvi Duriel was the first ambassador of Israel's political representation in Iran. During the 5-year embassy of Israel's plenipotentiary representative in Tehran, with ambassador Uri Lubrani between 1974 and 1979, many Israeli officials visited Iran many times, such as

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

Yigal Allon Yigal Allon (; 10 October 1918 – 29 February 1980) was an Israeli military leader and politician. He was a commander of the Palmach and a general in the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He was also a leader of the Ahdut HaA ...

Moshe Dayan Moshe Dayan (; May 20, 1915 – October 16, 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of General Staff (Israel), Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defe ...

and

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

Yossef Harmelin Yossef Harmelin (; 1922 – December 12, 1994) was an Israeli civil servant, serving as the director of the Shabak from 1964 to 1974 and again from 1986 to 1988 and as ambassador in Iran and South Africa. Born in Vienna, Harmelin was active in ...

, the former head of Israel's internal security agency (

Shin Bet The Israel Security Agency (ISA; , (GSS); ), better known by the Hebrew acronyms, acronyms Shabak (; ; ) or Shin Bet (from the abbreviation of , "Security Service"), is Israel's internal Security agency, security service. Its motto is "''Magen ...

), was the last plenipotentiary representative of Israel in Tehran, whose term as ambassador in Tehran ended with the victory of the Iranian Islamic revolution of 1979. Finally, on February 18 1979, the Israeli ambassador,

, and the embassy staff fled the country. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) backed the 1979 Iranian revolution, and several days after the revolution, PLO chief

led a Palestinian delegation to Iran. The Palestinian delegates were publicly welcomed, and symbolically handed the keys to the former Israeli embassy in Tehran, which later became a Palestinian embassy.

Hani al-Hassan Hani al Hassan (; 1938 – 6 July 2012), also known as Abu Tariq and Abu-l-Hasan, was a leader of the Fatah organization in Germany and member of the Palestinian Authority Cabinet and the Palestinian National Council. Early life Al Hassan was ...

, one of the key diplomatic figures of the PLO, was appointed as the first ambassador of Palestine to Iran.

Cultural relations

Before the

1979 revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

in Iran, the two countries of Iran and Israel had close but informal relations with each other, which went beyond economic and commercial relations. According to the archives of the

Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (; ) is one of the most important Cabinet of Israel, ministries in the Government of Israel, Israeli government. The ministry's role is to implement Israel's foreign policy, and promote economic, cultural ...

, during that period, more than 500 Israeli families lived in Iran, and Israeli students which living in Tehran, went to a

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

school under the supervision of the

Israeli Ministry of Education The Ministry of Education (, translit. ''Misrad HaHinukh''; ) is the branch of the Israeli government charged with overseeing public education institutions in Israel. The department is headed by the Minister of Education, who is a member of the ...

, which was managed by the Israeli political representation in Tehran. In 1962,

Jalal Al-e-Ahmad Seyyed Jalāl Āl-e-Ahmad (; December 2, 1923September 9, 1969) was a prominent Iranian novelist, short-story writer, translator, philosopher, socio-political critic, sociologist, as well as an anthropologist who was "one of the earliest and ...

, a famous Iranian author, traveled to Israel for two weeks and published a travelogue of his experience. The expenses of this trip were covered by the political representation of Israel in Tehran.

List of ambassadors

From 1948 to 1979, when the Israeli embassy was operating in Iran, the following people were appointed as ambassadors: * Zvi Duriel (1964–1968) * Meir Ezri (1968–1973) * Uri Lubrani (1973–1978) *

(1978–1979)

References

{{coord missing, Iran Iran–Israel relations Buildings and structures in Tehran Diplomatic missions of Israel Diplomatic missions in Tehran

History

Cultural relations

List of ambassadors

See also

References