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On May 8, 2004, moments after Teheran's spanking new $350 million Imam Khomeini International Airport had been officially opened with the arrival of the first foreign aircraft, the elite Revolutionary Guards, who are charged with protecting Iran's borders, stormed into the terminal and shut it down.
They said the Turkish firm that had refurbished the airport had business ties with Israel, thereby compromising Iran's national security.
The Istanbul-based contractors, Tepe Akfen Ventures (TAV), formerly known as Tepe-Akfen-Vie, flatly denied the charges. "We have no business ties with Israel," Pinar Sener, TAV's human resources director, told The Jerusalem Post in a phone interview from Istanbul.
Nevertheless, the airport was closed, TAV's contract was canceled, transportation minister Ahmed Khorram, whose ministry awarded the contract, was fired and a visit to Turkey by President Muhammad Khatami was postponed. Beyond these immediate consequences, the alleged "Zionist ties" had more far-reaching consequences, which affect future foreign investment in Iran.
The furor prompted Iran's conservative-dominated parliament to create a law giving itself the right to cancel any contract made by government ministries with foreign firms if they were deemed a national security threat. The law also stipulates that any investments made by firms with more than 50.1 percent foreign ownership require the advance approval of parliament.
While the bill cites security concerns, the real reason is more likely a conservative attempt to prevent large-scale foreign investment and to keep the business deals for themselves.
"It appears that the local interest, particularly Revolutionary Guards, desired a greater share of the profits, thus the crisis," said Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow of Middle Eastern studies at the...