Haft-e Tir Square

Haft-e-Tir Square (Persian: میدان هفتم تیر) is a central cross section in Tehran's central business district. The square was renamed Haft-e-Tir in the years following the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The square was formally renamed after a bombing on 28 June 1981 (the 7th of Tir 1360 (Haft-e Tir - هفت تیر) in the Iranian calendar), a powerful bomb went off at the headquarters of the Iran Islamic Republic Party (IRP) in Tehran, while a meeting of party leaders was in progress. Seventy-three leading officials of the Islamic Republic were killed, including Chief Justice Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, (who was the second most powerful figure in the revolution after Ayatollah Khomeini at the time). SAVAK and Iraq were immediately held responsible by Iranian authorities. According to Ervand Abrahamian, "whatever the truth, the Islamic Republic used the incident to wage war on the Left opposition in general and the Mojahedin in particular." According to Kenneth Katzman, "there has been much speculation among academics and observers that these bombings may have actually been planned by senior IRP leaders, to rid themselves of rivals within the IRP." Previously Haft-e-Tir was known as 25th Shahrivar Square, which was a name given by the former pre-revolutionary Pahlavi government up until the revolution.