At age 15 he joined the Shahar, the Arab Platoonof the Palmah un-
derground militia. After Israel’s War of Independence, Nimrodi be-
came an intelligence officer in Military Intelligence(MI) as an
agent runner. In 1955 Nimrodi assumed the position of Israeli mili-
tary attaché in Tehran with the rank of colonel. In fact he was an
agent of MI and of the Mossadcharged with developing relations
with Iran as part of Israel’s Periphery Doctrine.
No Israeli representative in Iran during the shah’s regime was more
significant or influential than Nimrodi. He reportedly helped organ-
ize and encourage the rebellion of Kurdish tribesmen against Iraq, the
shah’s main political and military rival in the region. Nimrodi was ac-
tually the “chief government agent for Israel’s burgeoning arms in-
dustry.” He was known as an all-purpose “fixer” and was on intimate
terms with the shah and his generals. He would even boast to his
friends that he was in “partnership” with the shah. Among other
coups, Nimrodi sold the Iranian Army on the Israeli-made Uzi sub-
machine gun. As the Mossad agent who could properly boast of hav-
ing “built” the Iranian National Organization for Intelligence and Se-
curity (SAVAK) into an efficient but brutal intelligence service, he
was no less intimate with the keepers of the shah’s secrets.
Nimrodi ended his term in Iran in 1969 and returned to Israel.
There he lobbied for the job of military governor of the West Bank,
occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Being turned down for
the job, he resigned from the army.
As a private citizen, Nimrodi became a merchant selling arms and
other Israeli products to Iran. All the sales to Iran that he had previ-
ously arranged during his “low-salary” military career were now han-
dled by Nimrodi as a private businessman. In the Six-Day War, mas-
sive quantities of Soviet weapons were captured by the IDF from the
Arab armies, and Israel decided to transfer these weapons to the Kurds
of Iraq. Nimrodi served as the main channel for this transaction. He,
like other wealthy businessmen, invested millions in the shah’s Iran,
and as a result accumulated an enormous fortune. This profit making
came to an end with the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979; however,
Nimrodi had banked wisely in Europe and was not harmed. He moved
to London, where he maintained his contacts with exiled Iranians.
In the first half of the 1980s Nimrodi, still a private businessman, re-
sumed his engagement in arms sales. As partners he had David (Dave)NIMRODI, YA’ACOV• 20906-102 (03) H-P.qxd 3/24/06 7:25 AM Page 209