Teheran's 'Zionist-free' airport...

Yes, you can relax, Teheran's airpaort is truly zionist-free.

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.