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Niv Sultan as agent Tamar Rabinyan: In the land of the arch enemy
Photo: Apple TV +
In early July, news agencies reported a series of explosions in Iranian military bases and nuclear facilities.
Experts suspect that the Israeli secret service Mossad is behind the attacks.
Shortly before that, the first episodes of "Tehran", a series in which a young Mossad agent goes undercover in the Iranian capital, ran on an Israeli broadcaster. She is supposed to prepare an attack on a nuclear power plant.
"Tehran" is the latest example of how strikingly fiction and reality overlap in Israeli series;
how psychological thrillers tell of the confrontation in the Middle East - and the related issues of identity and loyalty.
The productions from Israel are celebrated worldwide for this, which is why they are licensed and copied by US streaming platforms.
Like the series "Hatufim", which was adapted in the USA under the title "Homeland".
Or "Fauda," a hit on Netflix.
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Transformation in the aircraft toilet: Tamar in action
Photo: Apple TV +
The series "Tehran", which is now also running on the streaming service Apple TV +, takes the confrontation scenario to extremes: Tamar Rabinyan (Niv Sultan), a Mossad agent with Iranian-Jewish roots, is smuggled into Iran under a false identity.
The country is considered an archenemy of Israel and there are no diplomatic connections.
To break into the power plant's data network, she made contact with an Iranian hacker who was active in the dissident scene.
Meanwhile, bombers wait for the signal to attack at night on the base in Israel.
Execution in a public square
The opening scenes are set in the style of a paranoid thriller: the airport in Tehran, where Rabinyan disguises himself as an Iranian stewardess to get into the country, seems to consist of endless corridors that lead to no exit.
When the agent finally gets into a taxi to drive to her Iranian man, she sees a man's body hanging from a crane high up in the air above a public square.
Tehran is firmly in the hands of the revolutionary guard.
Or not?
Because soon Rabinyan gets to know an Iran through the hacker, in which people take ecstasy at illegal parties and live out their sexuality freely, in which the intellectuals openly discuss political theories.
Even if the locals speak Farsi, Tehran suddenly feels like Tel Aviv for the heroine.
In a video chat, the main actress Niv Sultan enthuses about how music, food and lifestyle connect people and that "Tehran" shows the metropolis in a light that has never been seen on television.
Unfortunately, she is not allowed to talk about difficult topics, Apple TV + is very strict on that.
Immediately before the conversation, an off-screen voice warns: "No political questions!"
For real?
Apple's streaming service is the first foreign production to acquire a series that deals with Israel's shadow war in the Middle East, but world politics must not play a role in the promotion?
This shows how nervous the bosses of Apple TV + are, whose content strategy is not yet convincing in contrast to competitors like Netflix or Disney.
The unrest may also have something to do with the high level of investment in "Tehran".
Israeli series are produced extremely cheaply in international comparison, usually an episode costs around 200,000 dollars, but Apple TV + is said to have paid a million dollars per episode for international rights for "Tehran".
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Unknown Iran: Agent Tamara also gets caught in demonstrations by dissidents.
Photo: Apple TV +
The fear of being politically offensive shows a major weak point in the streaming industry, which is driven by massive capital flows from the USA.
Although the big players are aiming to gain the greatest possible global attention with explosive substances and thus to outperform the competition, at the same time they often shy away from expressing themselves on political issues.
Streamlining rules the streaming business.
Which seems absurd, especially in view of the conflict-laden Israeli series in the program.
It is precisely in the highly political confrontation of these stories that they are so special.
Ideologies and religions usually clash here with full force.
Nonetheless, "Teheran" creates an almost utopian permeability by uniting the Israeli agent and the Iranian hacker in a love story.
The enemy in my bed: The fact that human happiness lights up in a psychologically believable manner amid the political atrocities speaks for the series.
A second season is being planned.
Hopefully, Apple TV + doesn't have too much of an impact.
"Tehran",
on Apple TV +
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