Tehran (TV series)

Tehran
Genre	Serial drama Espionage thriller
Created by	Moshe Zonder Dana Eden Maor Kohn
Screenplay by	Moshe Zonder Omri Shenhar
Directed by	Daniel Syrkin
Starring	Niv Sultan Shaun Toub Navid Negahban Liraz Charhi Menashe Noy Shervin Alenabi
Country of origin	Israel
Original languages	Hebrew Persian English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	8
Production
Executive producer	Alon Aranya
Cinematography	Giora Bejach
Production companies	Donna Productions Shula Spiegel Productions Paper Plane Productions (in association)
Original release
Network	Kan 11
Release	June 22, 2020 (2020-06-22)

Tehran is an Israeli espionage thriller television series created by Moshe Zonder for the Israeli public channel Kan 11. The series is written by Zonder and Omri Shenhar and directed by Daniel Syrkin. The series is about the Israeli–Iranian conflict.

The series premiered in Israel on June 22, 2020.

Plot

Protagonist Tamar Rabinyan, a young Jewish woman born in Iran but raised in Israel, is a Mossad agent and computer hacker, sent on a mission to the Iranian capital, assigned to disabling an Iranian nuclear reactor. Her specific job is to neutralize Iran's air defenses, so that Israeli warplanes can bomb a nuclear plant and prevent Iran from obtaining an atomic bomb. When she arrives in Iran she switches identities with Jila Gorbanifar, an employee of the local electric company. In Jila's place she enters the electric company station and connects to the computer network. Then she tries to cut electric power to the Iranian radar system, in order to facilitate an ongoing Israeli Air Force attack. Her mission fails because her boss, who thinks she is Jila, tries to rape her and is killed as a result of their fight. She escapes and goes into hiding. Tamar was born in Iran and moved to Israel when she was six, and she now discovers her local roots, goes to see her aunt, and befriends Iranian pro-democracy activists. Meanwhile she is hunted by Faraz Kamali, head of investigations of the Revolutionary Guards.

Production and distribution

Production

Production began on October 28, 2019. Some of the actors playing Iranians were in fact born in Iran, and speak the language as their mother tongue. Niv Sultan, who plays Tamar, studied Persian for four months. In addition she studied the Krav Maga Israeli self-defence. The series was shot entirely on location in Athens.

International distribution

In July 2019, Cineflix acquired exclusive global distribution rights for the series.

On June 16, 2020, Apple TV+ bought international rights to the series outside of Israel, and will serve as the exclusive streaming home to the series worldwide.

Reception and criticism

Even before the first broadcast, the series made headlines throughout the world, especially in Tehran where it received negative reviews. Tehran-based Kayhan newspaper has criticized the series, describing it as an "anti-Iranian production" for its opposition to Iran's nuclear program. Iranian newspapers Hamshahri and Mashregh News wrote that "In the show, it is portrayed that Mossad not only acts aggressively under the excuse of national security and sends spies to Iran, but the goals have nothing to do with Iran's nuclear program. In the show, Israel even proceeds to murder its own long-serving loyal spies to frame Iran's Ministry of Intelligence, but also kidnaps Iranian civilians in Europe and holds them hostage to have a leverage over Iranian intelligence agents. While Iran's Ministry of Intelligence doesn't do the same thing by kidnapping and holding Iranian Jews hostage. In the show, Israel is shown to be willing to power off the city of Tehran (which has no nuclear facilities) to hurt the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, leading to many people dying in hospitals and if anything, Iran has every right to detain and interrogate Israeli citizen. «تهران» در تیررس سریال اسرائیلی</ref>."

External links

• Tehran at IMDb 
• Tehran on Kan 11 website (he)