The Iranian-Jewish Industrialist Who Stayed in Iran

On March 15, 1979, Habib Elghanian, an Iranian-Jewish philanthropist and entrepreneur, was arrested by the Islamist government that had just installed itself in Tehran. He had previously turned down many opportunities to leave: even after the government had forbidden him from exiting the country, the Israeli ambassador offered him a seat on one of the last El Al flights out, no ticket or passport necessary. He offered the seat to a family member. Two months after his arrest, the government announced that he had been shot, on charges including “friendship with the enemies of God” and “spying for the Zionistic state of Israel.”