While serving twice as ambassador to the United States, in the early 1960s and through most of the ’70s, the flamboyant Mr. Zahedi was best known for his extravagant entertaining in one of Washington’s most ostentatiously appointed embassies, a four-story, 46-room Georgian-style brick mansion with 14 fireplaces and terraced gardens. “Mr. Zahedi’s parties featured bands, fresh orchids, 24-karat game prizes, caviar and Champagne, with guests like Henry A. Kissinger, Andy Warhol and Elizabeth Taylor schmoozing in the embassy’s blue-tiled Persian Room,” The New York Times reported in 1994. His wide orbit also embraced Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Senator Barry Goldwater.
