Embassy of Israel, Tehran

Israel's political representation in Iran, also referred to as the Embassy of Israel in Tehran (Hebrew: שגרירות מדינת ישראל טהראן‎), was a large three-story building on Kakh Boulevard (now Palestine Street) in Tehran, the capital of Iran, that was owned by the Israeli diplomatic mission.^[1] Embassy of Israel in Tehran, was the diplomatic mission of Israel in Iran when the two countries had diplomatic relations from 1948 to 1979, the year of the Iranian Revolution.^[2][3]

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 and the victory of the Iranian Revolution, it was attacked by the revolutionaries and was handed over to Palestinian guerillas who were members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) by installing the Palestinian flag.^[4] Following the visit of Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Fatah movement, to Tehran 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 and Ebrahim Yazdi, attended the former Israeli embassy and opened the Palestinian embassy in Tehran.^[5] Also, the names of Kakh Street and Kakh Square were changed to Palestine Street and Palestine Square, respectively.

During the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran became the second Muslim country after Turkey to recognize Israel.^[6] But after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the Israel embassy in Iran was closed. After that, Iran never recognized Israel.^[7][8]

Zvi Duriel was the first ambassador of Israel's political representation in Iran.^[9][10] 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, Yigal Allon, Moshe Dayan and Shimon Peres.^[11] Yossef Harmelin, the former head of Israel's internal security agency (Shin Bet), was the last plenipotentiary representative of Israel in Tehran, whose term as ambassador in Tehran ended with the victory of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.^[12] Finally, on February 18 1979, the Israeli ambassador, Harmelin, and the embassy staff fled the country.^[13]

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) backed the 1979 Iranian Revolution. On February 19, after relations with Israel were severed, PLO chief Yasser Arafat led a Palestinian delegation to Iran that was publicly welcomed and symbolically handed the keys to the former Israeli embassy in Tehran,^[14] which later became the Palestinian embassy.^[15] Hani al-Hassan, one of the key diplomatic figures of the PLO, was appointed as the first ambassador of Palestine to Iran.^[16]

Before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, 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, during that period, more than 500 Israeli families lived in Iran, and Israeli students which living in Tehran, went to a Hebrew language school under the supervision of the Israeli Ministry of Education, which was managed by the Israeli political representation in Tehran.^[17]

In 1962, Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, a famous Iranian author, traveled to Israel for two weeks and published a travelogue of his experience.^[18] The expenses of this trip were covered by the political representation of Israel in Tehran.^[19]

From 1948 to 1979, when the Israeli embassy was operating in Iran, the following people were appointed as ambassadors:^[20][21][22]

• Zvi Duriel (1964–1968)
• Meir Ezri (1968–1973)
• Uri Lubrani (1973–1978)
• Yossef Harmelin (1978–1979)

• List of diplomatic missions in Iran
• The law countering the hostile actions of the Zionist regime against peace and security
• Ahmad Qasir
• Fathi Razem
• Death to Israel
• Israel won't exist in 25 years
• Operations attributed to Israel in Iran
• Iran–Israel non-political relations