Visa
The Islamic Republic of Iran does not issue visas to Israeli passport holders or citizens of other countries who have an entry stamp for Israel in their passports. [1] On occasion, however, some Israeli reporters and journalists have traveled to Iran. Among these people are Annika Hernroth-Rothstein, [2] [3] Orly Azoulay, [4] [5] [6] and Larry Cohler-Esses. [7] [8]
Iranian citizens need to obtain special permission from the Israeli government to enter Israel. This permission is granted on a case-by-case basis and after security checks. [1] However, in specific cases, Iran and Israel have ignored these regulations. The current Chief Rabbi of Iran, Yehuda Gerami, studied at the Atriz Yisroel Yeshiva in Jerusalem. [9] The son of Masoud Derakhshan, a full professor of economics at Allameh Tabataba'i University, and one of the Saeed Jalili's advisors namely Jamshid Derakhshan, studied in Israel. [9]
In the past few years, to solve the problem of the entry stamp for Israel in the passport, the entry stamp is not placed in the passport but on another sheet so that those traveling to Israel do not have problems traveling to other countries. [1]
Commercial
Marc Rich
In 1979, with the changes in the Iranian government, the sale of Iranian crude oil abroad faced a serious problem. At this time, Israeli-Swiss businessman Marc Rich entered Iran through his company Glencore and established many business relationships with the new Iranian government. [10] Marc Rich became Iran's most important oil broker in the international arena for 15 years. According to Marc Rich in his autobiography, he was transporting Iranian oil to Israel through a secret pipeline. [11] He has claimed that both the Iranian and Israeli governments were aware of this trade. [12] He played a very important role in providing weapons and ammunition to the Iranian government during the Iran-Iraq War. Because of his extensive business dealings with Iran during the hostage-taking at the US embassy, the US government convicted him of 65 crimes, including embezzlement and violating sanctions against Iran. [13] For years, he was on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) list of ten most wanted criminals. In 2001, on the last day of office, Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich. According to many reports, former Mossad chiefs Anwar Azoulay and Shabtai Shavit played an important role in his pardon, and this pardon was due to Marc Rich's extensive activities for Israel and his help in providing information for Mossad. [14]
Pistachio market
On February 6, 1998, the Seattle Times newspaper published an article stating that Israeli pistachio imports from Iran were causing the decline of American pistachios in Israel. According to the report, California pistachio farmers were unhappy that Israel was importing pistachios from Iran. According to this report, half of Israel's pistachios are imported from England and Germany, even though these two countries are not pistachio producers. Asadollah Asgaroladi (an Iranian businessman ) said in this article about this business: "This is easily possible." The report also mentions that in 1997, the Israeli government fined "Hamama Brothers company" for importing 105 tons of pistachios from Iran in 1994 and 1995. [15] In 2007, the "Ynetnews newspaper" reported again that the US government had asked the Israeli government to prevent widespread imports of pistachios from Iran. [16] In 2008, "Richard Jones", the US ambassador to Israel, wrote a letter to Israeli Economy Minister "Rani Bar-On" calling for a halt to the import of pistachios from Iran. [17] The Haaretz newspaper also reported on this matter in a similar article. [18]
Other businesses
In 1998, the Israeli government sentenced Israeli businessman "Nahum Minbar" to 16 years in prison for extensive trade with Iran. During the investigation of this case, it was revealed that hundreds of Israeli companies have extensive trade with Iran. [19] In 2006, the Haaretz newspaper reported in an article that the Paz refinery in Israel purchases most of its crude oil from Iran. The article states that crude oil is transported via Iran to the Netherlands and via Rotterdam to Israel. [20] According to another report in the Haaretz newspaper, Israeli Energy Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said: "Any trade relationship established with belligerent countries that benefits the Israeli economy will stabilize the region." [21]
Agriculture and livestock
In an article in the "Northern California Jewish Bulletin" in 1988, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu said that his last indirect contact with Ruhollah Khomeini (The first democratic leader and founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran) [22] was during the Iran-Iraq War, when Iranians were unable to obtain meat that had been slaughtered according to Islamic or Jewish customs, because the Iranians would not eat meat that had not been slaughtered according to Islamic or Jewish customs ( Halal meats). Mordechai Eliyahu continued: Ruhollah Khomeini was willing to pay 30 times the normal price to import meat from Israel. [23]
In a 2011 article in the "Ynetnews newspaper", it was written that trade between Iran and Israel is very extensive. According to this article, most of the exchanges take place through Turkey, Jordan, and Dubai. "Yehoshua Miri", head of the "Israel-Arab Friendship Organization", said in this regard: "Contrary to what it seems on the surface, our trade relationship with Iran is worth tens of millions of US dollars per year." According to this report, most of Iran's exports to Israel are pistachios, cashews, and marble. Meanwhile, most of Israel's exports to Iran are agricultural supplies such as seeds, fertilizer, irrigation pipes, and milk-enhancing hormones. "Eran Sivo", head of Israeli marble imports, said in this regard: "The Iranians offered me to sell marble through Turkey at a very low price, but I refused." The same report continues by stating that in November 2000, the Iranian government requested that the Israeli employer who had installed Tehran's sewage system 30 years earlier, enter Iran for an inspection. At the same time, the "Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad" also visited Tel Aviv and stayed at the Hilton Tel Aviv Hotel. He expressed his desire to purchase irrigation equipment from Israel. [24]
In April 2009, it was revealed that several hundred tons of oranges branded by an Israeli company had entered Iran through Dubai, with the permission of the "Iranian Ministry of Commerce", and by one of the main fruit importers in Iran, and were distributed in the Iranian cities of Tehran and Karaj. [25] [26]
Shipping
In May 2011, Israeli media reported that the "Pacific Tanker - Public Joint Stock Company", owned by Sam Ofer of the Ofer Brothers Shipping Company, delivered an oil tanker named "Raffles Park" to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Company in 2010 and sold it to Iran. [30] [31]
Internet equipment
In December 2011, Bloomberg News reported that most of the Internet filtering equipment in Iran was purchased from Israeli companies. According to this report, the filtering equipment was transported from Israel to Denmark and from there to Tehran. According to the report, the name of this system is "Net Enforcer". According to an assessment by an American computer expert, this system allows spying on any device connected to the Internet. According to this report, these devices were manufactured by the Israeli company Allot Communications. [32]
Sport
Currently, Iranian athletes are not allowed by the Islamic Republic government to compete with Israeli athletes. [37] Before the 1979 Iranian revolution, Iran and Israel competed in sports, and for example, in football, Iran and Israel played five official matches against each other. After the Iranian Revolution, in 1983, Greco-Roman wrestler Bijan Seifkhani defeated his opponent from the Israeli team, Robinson Konashvili, in the "World Champion Freestyle and Greco-Roman Wrestling" competition in Kiev, Ukraine. After the news was relayed to Tehran, Ali Akbar Velayati, the then Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, invited the freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling team to Iran. The Iranian freestyle wrestling team returns to Iran empty-handed with a clear chance of winning the gold for Mahmoud Kadkhodaei, so the Bijan Seifkhani fight will be considered the first and last official competition between the two countries in sports competitions after the Iranian revolution of 1979. [38]
After changes in the rules and statutes of the International Olympic Committee, the practice of not confronting each other out of fear of disqualifications and fines completely changed. After this, Iranian athletes mostly avoid facing Israeli athletes, using excuses such as injury, not receiving visas, or via losing in a match to an Israeli opponent without engagement. [39]
Ali Akbar Velayati, Chairman of the Founding Board and Board of Trustees of Islamic Azad University, said in a ceremony commemorating Student Day at the Faculty of Engineering, West Tehran Branch of the university on December 5, 2017, that he initiated the practice of not playing against Israeli athletes, and that he was proud to be the initiator of this initiative in the country. These statements were in response to the widespread criticism from Velayati regarding Alireza Karimi's defeat at the 2017 World Hopes Wrestling Championships. [40]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
