Iran and the Jewish people: An alliance before war

Summary

Podcast Summary: Throughline (NPR) – “Iran and the Jewish people: An alliance before war”
Date: March 5, 2026
Hosts: Rund Abdelfattah & Ramtin Arablouei

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Episode Overview

This episode of Throughline travels across nearly three millennia to explore the long, complex, and often collaborative relationship between Iran (ancient Persia) and the Jewish people. From the liberating reign of Cyrus the Great to the tragic rupture in the late 20th century, the hosts use the life and fate of Habib Elghanian—an Iranian Jewish industrialist and philanthropist—as a lens to understand a history that has moved from alliance to bitter conflict. In doing so, they challenge the perception that today’s enmity between Iran and Israel is somehow ancient or inevitable.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ancient Roots: Cyrus the Great and the Jewish People (00:29 – 06:00)

• Mythic Beginnings: The show opens with the legendary Persian tale of Cyrus (Kurash), who would become known as Cyrus the Great, liberator of the Jews from Babylonian captivity.
• Human Rights Pioneer: Instead of sacking Babylon, Cyrus issues what some historians call the first declaration of human rights, allowing religious freedom and enabling Jews to return to Jerusalem.

  “Cyrus told the Jewish community that they could return if they wanted to, to contribute to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple…”
  – Roya Hakakian (04:04)

• Cultural Legacy: Jewish diaspora patterns are traced to this era, with some Jews returning to Jerusalem and others remaining in Persia, cementing a legacy of Jewish presence in what is now Iran.

2. An Iranian Jewish Golden Age (09:04 – 16:33)

• Habib Elghanian’s Early Life: Born in Tehran’s Jewish ghetto in 1912, Habib’s family navigates legal and social restrictions, which eased after Iran’s 1905 constitution.
• Modernization and Access: The Pahlavi dynasty—especially under Reza Shah—pushed for modernization and inclusion of minorities.

  “He was the first king to actually visit a synagogue in Iran... delivering a very clear message that everyone was welcome to create a sense of Iranian identity.”
  – Roya Hakakian (13:16)

• Connection to Israel: Encounters with Jewish refugees during WWII and visits to Palestine reinforced ties between Iranian Jews and the idea of a Jewish homeland.
• UN Partition of Palestine: Iran’s nuanced stance is highlighted—publicly dissenting from partition but privately cooperating with Israel post-1948.

3. Alliances and Industrial Boom (22:15 – 30:51)

• The Shah’s Partnering with Israel: Iran, Turkey, and Israel formed an “Alliance of the Periphery”, working together militarily and economically.

  “The only reason the Shah wanted relations with Israel is to serve Iranian interests…he saw Israel as one country that could contribute to development of Iran.”
  – Mir Javed Anfar (19:31)

• Rise of Habib Elghanian: Instrumental in Iran’s industrialization, Elghanian founded the country’s first plastics factory and the iconic Plasco Building—becoming a national figure.

  “He was one among this new generation that believed that you have to leave the world a little bit better than the one that you came into…”
  – Roya Hakakian (26:44)

• Philanthropy and Social Bridge: Habib funded projects for both Jewish and non-Jewish Iranians, and acted as a vital connection between the Iranian Jewish community and Israel.

4. Political Backlash and Scapegoating (30:51 – 36:31)

• Rising Tensions: Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranian left began to equate Israel with imperialism and the Shah’s unpopular dictatorship.
• Targeting of Jewish Community: Khomeini’s rhetoric includes direct accusations against Habib Elghanian and other Jewish business leaders as Zionist agents.

  “The entire country’s economy now lies in Israel’s hands... among the mediators of world Zionism who resided in Iran.”
  – Quoted from Khomeini’s speech by Shahrzad Alghanian (33:39)

• Elghanian’s Arrest: Amidst economic crisis, the Shah scapegoats business leaders, leading to Elghanian’s arrest and brief imprisonment.

5. Revolution and Tragedy: The Fall of Elghanian (37:31 – 46:15)

• 1979 Iranian Revolution: As the Shah is ousted, Habib Elghanian returns to Iran, confident in his reputation as a loyal Iranian.

  “He very proudly said, I have been a great citizen. I’ve contributed a great deal to the society. I see no reason why I should leave.”
  – Roya Hakakian (39:03)

• Arrest and Execution: Shortly after Khomeini’s rise, Elghanian is arrested, tried for “Zionist” activities, and executed—the first civilian executed by the revolutionary regime.
• Chilling Effect: His death sends shockwaves through the Jewish community, prompting a mass exodus.

  “The execution of Habib Alhaniyan was really the culprit behind that mass exodus.”
  – Roya Hakakian (45:30)

6. Separation Doctrine & Current Conflict (47:02 – End)

• Khomeini’s Policy: Jewish community leaders are assured of their safety as long as they separate themselves from Zionists; this becomes official policy, even painted on synagogue walls.

  “We separate the affairs of our own indigenous Jewish community from those blood-sucking Zionists in Israel...”
  – Roya Hakakian, paraphrasing Khomeini (47:10)

• Loss of an Ancient Bond: The rise of the Islamic Republic leads to anti-Israel policies, forced emigration, and cultural rupture.
• Modern War: The episode closes with the escalation of open warfare between Iran and Israel, emphasizing the tragic break from a once-rich and intertwined history.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Modern Identity and Acceptance:

  “This is the first time somebody has recognized us, wants us to involve us in the development of Iran. Doesn’t see us as Jews, sees us as Iranians.”
  – Mir Javed Anfar (14:27)

• On the Execution’s Impact:

  “The fact that someone like him…could get arrested, summarily tried, and subsequently executed, really threw shockwaves within the Iranian Jewish community…”
  – Roya Hakakian (45:30)

• On the Iranian Jewish Community’s Response:

  “If this can happen to him, it could happen to any of us.”
  – Shahrzad Alghanian (45:25)

• The Separation Doctrine:

  “We separate the affairs of our own indigenous Jewish community from those blood sucking Zionists in Israel.”
  – Roya Hakakian, quoting Khomeini (47:10)

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Important Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | Description | |-----------|---------------------------------------------|-------------| | 00:29 | Cyrus the Great and the Jewish People | Opening myth, Babylonian exile | | 09:04 | Habib Elghanian’s Childhood in Tehran | Societal conditions for Jews | | 13:16 | The Shah’s Inclusion of Minorities | Synagogue visit, changing attitudes | | 19:31 | Iran’s Pragmatic Cooperation with Israel | Shah’s motivations | | 22:15 | Iran’s Industrialization & Plasco | Elghanian’s business impact | | 30:51 | Khomeini’s Rhetoric and Rise | Anti-western/anti-Israeli sentiment | | 37:31 | Iranian Revolution (1979) | Fall of the Shah, Elghanian’s decisions | | 41:08 | Elghanian’s Show Trial & Execution | Details and charges | | 45:25 | Community Reaction and Exodus | Jewish mass migration from Iran | | 47:10 | “We separate…” - Khomeini’s declaration | Official regime policy toward Jews | | 49:46 | Lasting Fallout and Modern Conflict | Iran-Israel war in the present day |

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Tone & Language

• The episode blends an engaging narrative tone with insightful historical analysis, managing both intimacy (through family voices and personal stories) and scholarly breadth.
• Language is accessible but rich, weaving personal vignettes with larger political currents.

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Conclusion

Throughline’s episode powerfully reframes the Iran-Israel conflict, illuminating lost alliances and questioning myths of eternal enmity. By spotlighting Habib Elghanian’s rise and fall, the episode brings history alive, showing that even the deepest ruptures were once bridges.

For listeners new to the subject, this episode offers a deeply human—and historically nuanced—entry point to understanding the forces that shaped not only the Jewish community in Iran, but the entire modern Middle East.

Transcript

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[Ramtin Arablouei]

About 2500 years ago, in ancient Persia, what's now Iran, a king tossed and turned in his sleep. A nightmare consumed his mind. He saw visions of a baby growing into a warrior. A warrior that would one day forcefully take his throne. The usurper in his dreams was no stranger. It was his own infant grandson. The king awoke terrified of the prophecy, and he ordered his servant to kill the baby at once.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

But the servant couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he secretly smuggled the baby into the care of a shepherd who raised him. The boy grew up in the countryside, healthy and strong. He became a decorated warrior, leader and general. He set his sights on his grandfather's throne and launched a rebellion. Soon the prophecy became reality. The king was overtaken by the grandson he'd feared for so long. Persian lands had a new leader. His name was Kurash, or as he's known in the Bible, Cyrus.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

One by one, cities all over the near east fell to Cyrus armies. And soon he set his sights on the greatest city of the ancient world, Babylon. Babylon was a bustling metropolis in what's now modern day Iraq, a center of economic and military power. Its streets were lined with precisely constructed buildings. Many of its homes were filled with statues and artwork. It had hanging gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

But this grandeur came at a human cost. After laying siege to Jerusalem and the king of Babylon captured thousands of Jewish people and held them captive in the city for half a century. In October of 539 BCE, Cyrus forces surrounded Babylon and its massive walls. Walls so thick that chariots could be driven over them. Eventually, the Persian army found a way in under the city's gates. But what happened next was very unusual for the time. Instead of sacking the city, Cyrus did something different.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

He made a proclamation that many historians believe was the first declaration of human rights. Among other things, it allowed people to practice their own faith. This new system liberated the Jewish people who'd been held captive in Babylon.

[Roya Hakakian]

Cyrus told the Jewish community that they could return if they wanted to, to contribute to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple and, you know, restoring life in their ancient homeland.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This is Roya Hakkakian. She's an Iranian American Jewish writer and lecturer.

[Roya Hakakian]

Some people, you know, believe that Cyrus really created the Jewish diaspora model that either you go and live in Israel, or if you're not living in Israel, then you make sure to contribute to the ongoing life and the health of that community and society. And that's what happened.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Many Jewish people returned to Jerusalem. Others stayed in Persia and made it their home. Hundreds of years before the emergence of Christianity or Islamic, Cyrus the Great went on to rule over the largest empire the world had ever seen. And he ruled it with a tolerance that was unique for his time. His story and proclamations of human rights are inscribed on a piece of clay known as the Cyrus Cylinder, which is usually housed in the British Museum. A ceramic replica is in the United Nations Building in New York City. The story of Cyrus the Great is told in the Hebrew Bible. He's called the Messiah and is anointed by God. And he's also celebrated by many non Jewish Iranians today as a proud part of their history.

[Roya Hakakian]

This is a very important story, not particularly only exclusively for the Iranian Jewish community, but for Jews around the world, globally.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Historically, it's considered the origin story of Iranian Jews and of the long relationship between Iran and the Jewish people. A relationship that today has been fractured by decades of violence. Most recently by a war that erupted after the US and Israel launched wide ranging attacks across Iran, killing Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. For nearly 50 years, Israel and Iran have been in almost constant conflict. Israel has bombed Iran, assassinated many of its leaders and scientists and civilians. Iran has fired missiles at Israel and funded and armed groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis who've killed citizens inside Israel. Given the past four decades of violence, it's easy to view this conflict as primordial and inevitable. But it's not. After the creation of Israel in 1948 and before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, the relationship between the countries was characterized public distance and private cooperation. They shared technological and military knowledge. They were trade partners. At one point in the 1970s, there were thousands of Israelis living in Tehran, Iran's capital. And the bridge between the two countries was the Iranian Jewish community, one of the largest and oldest Jewish populations in the Middle East.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

One of those Jewish Iranians, Habibhanayan, lived a life that encompassed the liberation and emergence of Iran. Iranian Jews. A businessman and philanthropist who was like the John D. Rockefeller of Iran. His amazing journey from a ghetto to wealthy industrialist and the tragic way it ended illustrates the long, complicated relationship between the countries that has erupted into open warfare.

[Mir Javed Anfar]

Rund.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

I'm Rund Abdelfattah.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And I'm Ramtin arablouei On this episode of Throughline from npr, we trace the rupture between Israel and Iran through the story of Jewish Iranians in the 20th century and the life of Habib Elkhanayan.

[Listener/Caller]

Hi, this is Christina from Los Angeles, California. And you're listening to Throughline on npr.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Part one, Loved by God.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

On April 5, 1912, a boy was born in Iran's capital, Tehran, in a place the people called.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

It was also called Sarachal, which meant the edge of the pit, and the edge of the pit is where the garbage was burned.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

His name was Habibullah el Ghanayan. And Sarechal, where he was born, was a Jewish ghetto.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

During the 16th century, the ruling clerics had instituted many restrictions on Jews.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Jewish Iranians were legally forbidden from doing

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

things like using Muslim public baths, drinking from public fountains, leaving their houses when it rained or snowed, touching anything when entering Muslim shops, opening shops in the bazaar, building homes taller than a Muslim's, giving children Muslim names.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

The Islamic clerical class in Iran, or ulama, used the Islamic dhimmi system, which made all non Muslims into second class citizens.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Those who didn't accept Muhammad as their prophet in the Quran as God's final revolution were deemed impure, filthy or najis.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

As a result of these restrictions, Jewish people had to live in segregated communities within Iranian society, society to survive. But that would all change when Iran adopted a modern constitution that ended this legal system of religious discrimination.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

The 1905 revolution gave Iranians, all Iranians, equal rights.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This fundamentally changed life for minorities in Iran. So when Habib Al Ghanayan was born, Sarechal was no longer a place Jewish people had to live. And you can see even in his name that things had changed.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Habibullah means loved by God and he was the first of the sons who had an Arabic name.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This is Shahzad Elghan.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

I'm the author of Titan of Tehran, which is a book about my grandfather Habib El Ghanian's life.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Shahrzad Habib Elghan's granddaughter is a journalist. She's worked at the Associated Press and NBC News. She was born in Iran, but moved to the US As a young child. Growing up, she knew something terrible happened to her grandfather, but it was never really a topic of conversation in her family.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Oh, we rarely talked about it.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Why do you think that is? Just too painful?

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Yeah, I think you just stash away things that happen and you need to move on because it's painful. But my father had collected some newspaper clippings and I always had those. So I knew.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Starting with those newspaper clippings, Sasa dedicated years of her life piecing together her grandfather's story, a story that begins in hope and ends in tragedy. Despite starting in Tehran's Jewish ghetto, the Al Ghanayan family moved out and became a part of Iran's burgeoning class of international merchants.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

There were seven brothers. Two of his brothers moved to the United States and they were importing lots of consumer goods from the U.S. khabib

[Ramtin Arablouei]

joined his brothers and entered the family business. He started a company based in Tehran's Grand Bazaar, or Central Market, importing watches and women's clothing. He was very successful and by the end of World War II, he was

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

part of a group of Iranian industrialists who made their name and their first million.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

The 1930s were a period of rapid modernization in Iran under its new king, or Shah, Reza Pahlavi. As a part of that modernization process, he undermined Iran's clerics by pushing the country towards secularization. And part of that was reaching out to the country's minorities, including Jews.

[Roya Hakakian]

He became the first king to actually visit a synagogue in Iran.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This is Roya Hakakian again. She's an Iranian American Jewish writer, journalist and political commentator.

[Roya Hakakian]

By putting himself in a synagogue among this minority, he was delivering a very clear message that everyone was welcome to create a sense of Iranian identity. And I think that made a difference not just for the Jewish community, but for all Iranians.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Under Reza Pahlavi's rule, Iran was developing a modern sense of national identity that could hold all of its diverse ethnic and religious groups.

[Mir Javed Anfar]

Jews, we always wanted to belong.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This is Mir Javed Anfar. He's an Israeli Iranian political scientist.

[Mir Javed Anfar]

I teach various courses on Iranian politics and contemporary Iranian history at Reichman University.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Mir says many Jewish Iranians like Habib Ranayan embrace this nationalist project.

[Mir Javed Anfar]

This is the first time somebody has recognized us, wants us to involve, wants us to involve us in the development of Iran. Doesn't see us as Jews, sees us as Iranians. So Jews were falling over themselves to help.

[Archival/News Narrator]

Gurkha infantry and other empire troops enter Kermanshah. As from south and west, Britain sends forces into Iran.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

During World War II, Iran was actually occupied by allied forces because of its strategic position and its oil reserves. But there was very little fighting in the country. So while European Jews were experiencing the Holocaust, Jews in Iran were in the middle of their golden age.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

World War II didn't affect them the way it affected Jews in Europe.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

While there was a Zionist movement in Iran, it didn't have the same urgency or Energy, it did in places like Eastern Europe. In fact, many Iranian Jews didn't know that much about the horrors of the Nazi regime. But that would change in 1942.

[Archival/News Narrator]

Wanderers upon the face of the earth. Patriots from Poland nearing the end of one of the most amazing marches in history. 3,000 weary miles they've walked to find a haven of refuge, a people ground to helplessness beneath the heel of Nazi oppression.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

During World War II, there were some Polish children. They were Jews.

[Archival/News Narrator]

From one little town in Poland, a thousand men, women and children fled from the Nazis into Russia. When the Nazis followed, they pushed on through mountain and desert 3,000 miles to Persia, to a haven in Iran on the Caspian Sea.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

So they came to Iran and Iranian Jews really got to see the effects of World War II. And that's what really cements their feelings about Israel.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And this is when Habib El Ghanayan visited Palestine for the first time.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Actually, he went to Visit Palestine in 1943. He saw Mount Carmel and he named my dad Carmel.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

The first of his children, he gave a Jewish name.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Before that, his son Feridun has a very Persian name.

[Archival/News Narrator]

At Flushing, Long island, the General assembly of the United nations has made its decision on Palestine.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Two years after the end of World War II, the UN General assembly met to vote on a plan to partition Palestine. Earlier that year, the UN created a special committee to come up with a plan for Palestine's future. Iran was one of the 11 countries chosen to be on that committee. After months of deliberation and investigations, the committee came up with two central options for a plan. The first plan was to create two separate states, one controlled by Jews and one controlled by Palestinian Arabs. The other plan, which Iran helped to craft, was to create one state consisting of both Jews and Arabs with power sharing. Ultimately, the majority of the committee voted to create two separate states. But Iran was part of a small dissenting group that argued if Jews and Arabs didn't live under one flag with a shared sense of purpose, then conflict would only accelerate. Saudi Arabia? No.

[Archival/News Narrator]

Soviet Union? Yes.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

The United Kingdom Abstain. The United States Yes.

[Archival/News Narrator]

The resolution of the DAC Committee for Palestine was adopted by 33 votes, 13 against, 10 abstentions.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

On May 14, 1940, eight months after the UN voted for a two state partition plan, Israel unilaterally declared its independence and statehood. Neighboring Arab countries formed a coalition and responded by invading. A bloody conflict followed and Israel came out victorious, taking control of territory the UN had declared belonged to the Arabs. In the process, thousands of Jews and Arabs were killed and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from their ancestral lands. Although Iran had voted against partition at the un, Iran's new shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the son of Reza Pahlavi and did not join the war. This was not a popular position in Iran, where there were protests in support of the Arab nations and Iran's very influential clerical class spoke out loudly against Israel. This forced the young Shah to walk a very difficult tightrope, publicly holding Israel at a distance, but privately trying to cooperate with them.

[Mir Javed Anfar]

It wasn't for romantic reasons. The only reason the Shah wanted relations with Israel is to serve Iranian interests. As a king of Iran who desperately wanted to develop his country, he saw Israel as one country that could contribute to development of Iran.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

The Shah was closely allied with the United States. As Israel and the United States grew closer, so did Iran with Israel. In 1950, just a few years after Iran voted against the UN partition plan, the Shah opened up diplomatic relations with Israel, a de facto recognition of its existence. It was the second Muslim country to make this move after Turkey.

[Mir Javed Anfar]

Then the Shah said, okay, I want to cooperate with the Israelis. Then it expanded to agriculture. Then it expanded to joint weapons development and of course, diplomatic cooperation.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Coming up, Iran and Israel become shadow partners. And Habib El Ramayan brings a new industry to Iran.

[Listener/Caller]

This is Carone demars calling from San Antonio, Texas. I listen to NPR throughline. In fact, it is the only podcast that I have a paid subscription to because it's that valuable. I love the research behind it and it opens my mind to a whole new world about the underpinnings of what could be a normal story that we know nothing about. Bravo to all the producers and editors and commentators. Thank you.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Hey, it's Ramtin. If you like what you're hearing so far, we would love it if you would make sure to follow throughline on Spotify or Apple podcasts and leave us a review while you're there. It does really help people find out about our show. And the more people that find out about our show, the better it is for us and the better it is for you as the listeners. We really appreciate your support. It means so much to us and this is just something else you can do to help out. Okay, I'll stop now. Thank you. Love you. Bye.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Part two alliance of the Periphery

[Ramtin Arablouei]

we

[Interviewee (Family Member or Acquaintance)]

admit that many technical fields we are behind.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

This is the voice of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran's king or shah, talking about the need to develop Iran in the 1950s and 60s.

[Listener/Caller]

We can accept the know how and

[Ramtin Arablouei]

help of other advanced countries and we

[Mir Javed Anfar]

also encourage their investment here.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

The Shah of Iran used things like government subsidies and land reform to boost the economy. He was particularly interested in industrializing the country, which was still mostly agrarian. And Habib Al Ghanian along with his brothers were among the Iranian merchants who rode this wave of industrialization.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

They had a brother who was in the United States studying, and he went to a factory where they were making plastics goods.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

This is Shahzad Al Ghanian again. She wrote a biography of her grandfather, Habib El Ghanian, called Titan of Tehran.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

He fell in love with these machines, and he told his brothers, we should import one of these machines and make combs, plastic combs.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

At this time, most combs in Iran were made of wood and were easily broken. So plastic would be a game changer. Habib Al Ghanian and his brothers put their money together and took a big risk to open Iran's first plastics factory.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

So it started out with combs, and then they had buttons. And the factory grew. It was very exciting. They were making all sorts of things like toys and plastic bags, plastic shoes, small consumer goods. They also had aluminum factories building like door frames and window frames. And they also had another factory where they had refrigerators and stoves. So bigger durable goods any Iranian was living at the time had Plasco product.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Habib became very popular in the business community. He was elected to be the first Jewish Iranian to join the prestigious chamber of Commerce. And in 1962, he built Iran's first high rise building. He named it after his company, plasco.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

It was 17 stories, it had office buildings and the first floors had a mall. And it was Iran's first mall. So everybody hung out there. And there was a restaurant on the top floor.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Ramtin's dad actually took his mom and nine of his soon to be in laws there to go shopping for their engagement party.

[Interviewee (Family Member or Acquaintance)]

Everything was cheap over there. Cheap? I mean, you know, moderate price.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Oh, interesting.

[Interviewee (Family Member or Acquaintance)]

Yes, everything was there. So we went to do the shopping and after, after shopping, we went to restaurant in 17th floor.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

So you picked it because not only was it going to impress them, but then it was also affordable for you.

[Interviewee (Family Member or Acquaintance)]

Affordable? Yes, sir, affordable. It was 10 people.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

That's a lot of people.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Yes, sir.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Oh my God.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And you bought.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

To this day, any Persian person I speak with first says, oh, El, are you related to Habib? And I say, sure, I'm his granddaughter. And everyone has a story about Plasco, about spending time in that building.

[Interviewee (Family Member or Acquaintance)]

It was almost in downtown, middle of the Tehran.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Wow.

[Interviewee (Family Member or Acquaintance)]

It was like showing like modern Iran is coming, you know.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Did that make you guys proud?

[Interviewee (Family Member or Acquaintance)]

So proud, yes, it was proud because that building not only clothing hub for whole country, it was also entertainment for people. They go over there. I went couple of times. Clay pool, American pool, because you couldn't find many places there.

[Roya Hakakian]

He also introduced a great deal of philanthropy.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

This is Roya Hakakian. She's the author of Journey from the Land of no A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran.

[Roya Hakakian]

He was one among this new generation that believed that you have to leave the world a little bit better than the one that you came into and therefore you need to contribute to the society in which you live and from which you profit.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Habib Al Ghanian became well known for supporting both Jewish and non Jewish causes in Iran. He, he gave money to build hospitals. He helped start a huge scholarship fund for poor students. He even donated thousands of dollars to help build the Grand Hussein Ershad mosque in Tehran. Many of his employees and business partners refer to him as Hajji Habib, an honorific title usually given to Muslims who've made a religious pilgrimage to Mecca.

[Mir Javed Anfar]

Habib Alayan was the realization of our dreams to be recognized as Iranians and as an ethnic minority who wants to develop Iran.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

It was absolutely like the thing that he had the most pride in, as did a lot of other Jews who were doing this because they had been repressed for such a long time and now here they are in their golden era and it's the pride of having helped build Iran.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Habib was also a vocal supporter of Israel. He visited the country many times and even helped build a high rise building in Tel Aviv.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

He became the secular leader of Iran's Jews. The secular leader is the head of a group called the Andraman and Kalimyan. And what they do is they're in charge of, you know, the internal affairs of Jews and also their relationship with Israel. He loved Israel as a country. He traveled there, he visited, just like many Jews around the world do this.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

While Habib El Ghanian and many other Iranian Jews were experiencing a golden age in the 1950s and 60s, this was not the case in other Middle Eastern countries. After the UN voted to partition Palestine, the governments of nearly all the Arab countries made life difficult for their sizable Jewish populations. They passed discriminatory laws, confiscated land and often sponsored anti Jewish violence under the Pahlavi dynasty. Iran never instituted these kinds of policies and actually accepted Iranian Jews holding citizenship in both countries. This was in part because Iran had become a member of a loose partnership with with Israel and Turkey, called the alliance of the Periphery, referring to the fact that these countries were non Arab and living on the edges of the Arab world.

[Mir Javed Anfar]

The Shah's good relations with Israel actually encouraged him to see Iranian Jews as a bridge between Iran and Israel, whom he can use to develop Iran.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

The Shah invited Israeli business people to work in Iran. And the Shah brought members of Israel's main intelligence organization, the Mossad, to help train his secret police, the savak, an organization that suppressed dissent in Iran, jailing, torturing and sometimes killing dissidents.

[Mir Javed Anfar]

I don't want to paint a rosy picture, say everybody in Iran liked Israel. No, that's not true. The Shah of Iran did many good things for Iran, but at the end of the day, he was the dictator. And when you're a dictator and you force people to do things, they turn against you. So whoever the Shah was friends with, the people of Iran, viewed as an

[Roya Hakakian]

enemy, the Iranian left, the seculars who had always been anti imperialist. And we're seeing Israel as an imperialistic project, as an American project, began to really embrace Ayatollah Khomeini.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

We are against Israel and we will never help Israel. We will cut off our diplomatic relation.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, whose voice you just heard, was a Shia Iranian cleric. Beginning in the 1960s, he became an outspoken opponent of the Shah of Iran. He opposed Iran's modernization and viewed the Shah as a puppet of Western imperialist countries.

[Roya Hakakian]

He used to call the United States the Great Satan and Israel was the Great Satan's bastard child.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

If the Shah were overthrown and the

[Archival/News Narrator]

kind of government you want came to

[Ramtin Arablouei]

power in Iran, how would Iran's relations with Israel change?

[Rund Abdelfattah]

We will cut relations with Israel and we will have no relationship with them. They're an occupying government and they are our enemy.

[Mir Javed Anfar]

He saw Iran as a member of the Islamic Ummah, the Islamic world community, and he saw it as Iran's duty to side with the Palestinians against the Israelis.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

We are on the side of the innocent. The Palestinians are innocent. The Israelis have done an injustice to them. From this perspective, we are on the side of the Palestinians.

[Roya Hakakian]

He recognized that speaking against the United States and Israel did in fact endear him to certain classes who wanted to bring down the monarchy. However, they couldn't see themselves banding with the likes of Ayatollah Khomeini. To them, you know, a cleric signaled backward movement toward a past that they were trying to leave behind. You can see that Ayatollah Khomeini begins to adapt his rhetoric in order to appeal to the secular Iranians, to the leftists, to the ultra radical communists. And that's through his anti imperialist, anti American and anti Israeli speeches.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Khomeini was exiled from Iran in 1964 by the Shah in exile. His popularity grew even more. His speeches were smuggled into Iran via cassette tape. And in one of those speeches made before his exile, he made a direct reference to Habib Al Ghanian's family.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

The entire country's economy now lies in Israel's hands. That is to say, it has been seized by Israeli agents.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

This is Shahrazad Al Ghanian reading a translated portion of that speech.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Hence most of the major factories and enterprises are run by them. And one of the people mentioned is one of these so called agents are the Alganian families who says were among the mediators of world Zionism who resided in Iran.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Khomeini also said the Shah takes so

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

many of his cues from Israel that we wonder if he is not himself a Jew.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

By the late 1970s, there was a growing protest movement against the Shah's autocratic rule over Iran. People chanted things like death to the Shah. And while this was happening, Iran was experiencing significant inflation as a result of mismanaged economic growth. Many Iranians blamed the Shah for this. So he was under a lot of pressure and he needed to show the public he was doing something about it.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Instead of having an economic solution to it, he basically decided to blame businessmen for it.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

The Shah publicly accused Iran's biggest businessmen, including Habib El Ghanian, of price gouging.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

And one night the SAVAK came to my grandfather's house while he was sleeping and they took him away. And the next day there were headlines in the paper about how Habib Meljanyan was arrested on charges of profiteering.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Habib Elghanian at this point was in his 60s. He was internally exiled to another city and then spent time in prison. It was six months before he was released.

[Mir Javed Anfar]

I think the Shah was. He just believed that everybody was out to get him and that he had no responsibility for what was going on in Iran, which is pure fantasy. He was looking for an escape goat.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

The fact that they made such an example of him to me definitely says that the Shah was not his friend. All these things later came back to become even more problematic when Khomeini came.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Coming up, revolution comes to Iran and Al Ghanian enters its crosshairs.

[Listener/Caller]

This is Jacob in Irvine, California and you're listening to Throughline from npr. Really Love the show, y'. All. So thanks for all your hard work and really appreciate the way you tell stories. Bye. Bye.

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[Rund Abdelfattah]

Part three A bitter divorce.

[Listener/Caller]

Chaotic celebrations erupted in Tehran when the news broke the Shah had gone. It was like Liberation day.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

In early 1979, after months of massive street protests and violence, the Shah of Iran left Iran for a vacation everyone knew he would not return from.

[Listener/Caller]

And roving crowds chanted, the Shah is defeated. Khomeini has won.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

As he walked the tarmac to board the jet that would take him away from his homeland, he carried a box of Iranian soil. It was over. But it was not clear who would fill the power vacuum he left behind.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

There were a lot of different groups who were vying for power.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

This is Shahrzad Al Ghanian, author of the book Titan of Tehran.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Khomeini was, you know, was one of them.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Habib Al Ghanian was visiting family in the United States when all of this was happening. He planned on returning to Iran.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Anytime anyone said to him, oh, this could be dangerous for you. He was so convinced that because of what had happened to him during the Shah's power when he was taken away, that he couldn't be taken again. They couldn't say, oh, he's so, you know, the Shah, he's friends with the Shah, or he's a shahi. He was convinced. So what he thought was, okay, a new government comes in and I'm going to continue what I'm doing.

[Roya Hakakian]

He very proudly said, I have been a great citizen. I've contributed a great deal to the society.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This is Roya Hakkakian again. She's an Iranian American Jewish writer and analyst.

[Roya Hakakian]

I see no reason why I should leave.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

He's like, this is my country. What am I gonna do? I'm gonna just leave everything and go. There are all these people working in my factories, and they're all the Jewish communities here. I have to protect them, too.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Habib Hunayan did return to Iran, and so did Ayatollah Khomeini. Within weeks of his return, the Israeli diplomatic offices in Tehran were closed and the keys handed over to The Palestine Liberation Organization and Khomeini's forces started to round up former members of the Shah's government and brought them in front of the newly created revolutionary tribunals.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Khomeini arrives on February 1 and on March 15 they come after my grandfather.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Armed men arrived at Habib El Ghanayan's office. They walked him out to a car and drove him to the notorious Qasr prison in Tehran.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

All that time, anyone who's executed is a member of the Shah's government military police. So while he's in jail, there's still some hope that, you know, he can get out because no civilian's been executed.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

For several months, Habib Al Ghanayan was kept in prison and tortured. Different business leaders tried to intervene on his behalf to get him released, but it didn't work.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

On May 8, he was taken to the revolutionary tribunals.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

His trial was broadcast on television. It was in this tiny room and this is how it was described by an American woman living in Iran at the time.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Facial bruises and swelling showed through heavy makeup. Bearded mullahs dressed in dark cloaks spat questions at him. Before he could answer, a mullah answered the question for him and twisted it into an accusation. El Ghanian had no defense counsel and seemed disoriented and unsteady in his chair

[Ramtin Arablouei]

at this point. Does he even know why he's there? Like what were they even charging him with?

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

He's not aware of his charges at all. He's reading. They're being read to him in the courtroom.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And what were those the charges?

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

I'll read you open quote. In the name of Allah. Habib El ghanian, holder of ID card number 6108, resident of Tehran, literate spy, Zionist capitalist is accused of the following. 1. Friendship with the enemies of God and an enemy of the friends of God. 2. Spying for the Zionist state of Israel. 3. Gathering contributions for Israel for the sake of bombarding Palestine and Muslim Arab people. 4. Investing money made from exploiting and destroying resources of Iran to help Israel who incessantly combats, steals and affronts Islam and God. 5. Corruption on earth by means of destroying resources and helping in the destruction of an entire generation of Iranians.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

6.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

War on God and the Prophet of God. 7. Obstructing God's way and obstructing the well being of weak nations against the value of humanity and Islam.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

8.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Corruptor on earth.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

9.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

Helping the daily and cruel massacre of our Palestinian brothers. Those were the nine charges against him.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

No credible evidence was produced to support these Charges.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

He starts to try to defend himself without a lawyer.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

The trial lasted just 20 minutes.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

The verdict is that he's guilty.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And what does that mean for him? What's gonna happen?

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

That means that he has to go and write his will, and then he's going to face a firing squad.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

The next day, he was taken outside to a courtyard in prison, blindfolded and forced to stand with his back against a wall.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

His execution was at dawn in the

[Rund Abdelfattah]

early morning on May 9, 1979. Habib El Ghanian was executed, the first civilian to receive the punishment by the revolutionary tribunals.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

And then there's a question of, my grandfather's body is in a morgue somewhere, and how do we bury him? Where is he? There is a man who was the caretaker of the cemetery, Lorman, who was a great friend of my grandfather's, who goes to the morgue, finds the body. There's a sign on it that says, habibelganian Zionist spy. They wouldn't immediately give up his body. And this is something that still happens. Then they make you pay for the

[Rund Abdelfattah]

bullets, the bullets used by the firing squad.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

And they tell you, you know, you shouldn't have a funeral. He takes the body in his car and actually does something very sweet. He drives him around the building where my grandfather's office was, the aluminum building, and then takes him to the cemetery. But, of course, his body is riddled with bullets, and they have a funeral for him at night, in the dark, because they're scared that they're going to be caught.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Iranian newspapers and newspapers around the world announced Habib al Ghanian's execution. It scared Iranian Jews.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

They're thinking, if this can happen to him, it could happen to any of us.

[Roya Hakakian]

I remember, you know, my father was holding up the daily paper, and on the COVID it was dead body, dead body, dead body. And the fact that someone like him, with his track record of business influence, power, and charity, could get arrested, summarily tried, and subsequently executed, really through shockwaves within the Iranian Jewish community, which is why tens of thousands of Iranian Jews fled Iran within the first couple of years of the revolution, that the execution of Habib Alhaniyan was really the culprit behind that mass exodus.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Initially, within days of his execution, soldiers had evicted his family, showed up at Habib al Ghanian's home in Tehran, and confiscated all of his assets.

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

You know, so everything that he had built his entire lifetime building, was gone.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

The day after Habib's execution, a small group of Iranian Jews visited Ayatollah Khomeini in his home in the city of Qom.

[Roya Hakakian]

And they asked him, you know, are we safe? You know, can we stay? And he gave this big, big, long, winding sermon that had initially nothing to do with what they had asked, which really puzzled them at first. But at the end he gave them a single statement that became sort of the unofficial policy of the Iranian regime towards the Jewish community to this day. And the sentence was, we separate the affairs of our own indigenous Jewish community from those blood sucking Zionists in Israel. And this line was painted on the walls of every synagogue and every Jewish school in Iran. It was sort of the blessing that he had given over to the Iranian Jewish community to say, you are not them, you are Jews, they are Zionists, we are against them and not you. And you can say, and they can't, we will fight them to the death. And, and that's why this single line was painted on all the walls, because it was what everybody wanted within the Jewish community to remind the outsiders of what the big leader had said and that we were welcome and that we were not the enemy.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Still, the threat of being called a Zionist hung over the heads of Iranian Jews. And slowly, over the course of the 1980s and 90s, the threat, their population in Iran decreased significantly, breaking a connection that had been there for millennia. And as Ayatollah Khomeini strengthened his grip over the country, the United States and Israel became official enemies of Iran. Children across the country, regardless of their religious background, were forced to stand up in the morning at school and chant Death to America and Death to Israel.

[Roya Hakakian]

Most Iranians who lived through 1979 and saw the rise of Ayatollah Khomein to power and were not for him, and there were many who were not for him, could not believe that a regime like that could go on. Which is the reason why my family stayed in Iran for, you know, until the middle 80s, because we thought it can't be.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

With the loss of this ancient connection and the rise of a radical Islamic government, Iran and Israel have been locked into a bitter conflict that has caused the deaths of thousands of Iranians, Israelis, Palestinians and others. The Islamic Republic of Iran claims to support the Palestinians in their quest for a state. But its actions have mostly focused on providing military and financial support to Palestinian Islamic radical organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

And Today, the nearly 50 year war between Iran and Israel has reached what might be its zenith. A joint Israeli US operation has killed many of the Islamic Republic's most important leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Iran has retaliated by firing a barrage of missiles into Israel and other countries in the region. No one knows what will come of this war, but it is clear that it's another violent turning point in the relationship between Iran and Israel. That's it for this week's show. I'm Rund Abdelfattah Rami.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

I'm Ramtin Arablouei and you've been listening to Throughline from npr.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

This episode was produced by me and

[Shahrzad Alghanian]

me and Julie Kane, Anya Steinberg, Casey

[Roya Hakakian]

Miner, Christina Kim, Devin Kadayama, Irene Noguchi,

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Kiana Mokattam, Thomas Coltrane. Fact checking for this episode was done by Kevin Voelkel.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Also, thank you to my dad, Nader Arablouei, Itn Arizu Rezvani, Carmel Melamed, Rebecca Ferrer, Dylan Kurtz, Johannes Durgi, Beth Donovan and Tommy Evans.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

This episode was mixed by Robert Rodriguez. Music for this episode was composed by Ramtin and his band Drop Electric, which

[Ramtin Arablouei]

includes Naveed Marvi, Sho Fujiwara, Anya Mizani. And finally, if you have an idea, idea or like something you heard on the show, please write [e-mail] thanks for listening.