Who was the most recent Shah of Iran?
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (, ; 26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980), also known as Mohammad Reza Shah, was the last Shah of Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979. Mohammad Reza Shah took the title "Shahanshah" ("King of Kings") on 26 October 1967. He was the second and last monarch of the House of Pahlavi. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi held several other titles, including that of "Aryamehr" ("Light of the Aryans") and "Bozorg Arteshtaran" ("Commander-in-Chief"). His dream of what he referred to as a "Great Civilisation" () in Iran led to a rapid industrial and military modernisation, as well as economic and social reforms.
Women's rights in Iran
In 1925, the military commander, Reza Khan, overthrew the Qajar dynasty. In the same year, he was declared the Shah of Iran, which marked the beginning of the Pahlavi era. Iran's societal structure and the status of women began to improve after the Shah went on a visit to Turkey in 1936. The Shah was inspired by the Westernization that was taking place there by the Turkish leader, Atatürk. In a speech he gave upon his return from Turkey, the former Shah of Iran said: “I am extremely delighted that women have become aware of their rights and entitlement… Now women are on their way to gain other rights in addition to the great privilege of motherhood.”
Yasmine Pahlavi
Yasmine Pahlavi, Crown Princess of Iran (née Etemad-Amini, ; born 26 July 1968) is a lawyer and the wife of Reza Pahlavi, the last crown prince of the former Imperial State of Iran.
Women in Iran
The Pahlavi Shahs were the rulers of Iran between 1925 and 1979 and they introduced many reforms concerning women's rights. An example of an early reform introduced by Reza Shah was the 'forced unveiling of women by a special decree on January 8, 1936 which, as the name suggests, involved the police force pulling the hijab away even from religious women, by force.'
Nader Shah
Nader Shah Afshar (; also known as "Nader Qoli Beyg" or "Tahmāsp Qoli Khan" ) (August 1688 – 19 June 1747) was one of the most powerful Iranian rulers in the history of the nation, ruling as Shah of Iran (Persia) from 1736 to 1747 when he was assassinated during a rebellion. Because of his military genius as evidenced in his numerous campaigns throughout Middle East, Caucasus, Central and South Asia, such as the battles of Herat, Mihmandust, Murche-Khort, Kirkuk, Yeghevard, Khyber Pass, Karnal and Kars, some historians have described him as the "Napoleon of Persia",
"Sword of Persia", or the "Second Alexander". Nader Shah was an Iranian who belonged to the Turkmen Afshar tribe of Khorasan in northeastern Iran, which had supplied military power to the Safavid dynasty since the time of Shah Ismail I.
Pearl Palace
Shams Palace (; Romanized as "kakh-e Shams/ Kāx-e Šams" , also known as "kakh-e Morvarid/ Kāx-e Morvārid" ) is a large estate designed by Taliesin Associated Architects on instructions from princess Shams Pahlavi, elder sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. It was built in the early 1970s and it is located in Mehrshahr near Karaj, Iran.
Mahmoud Jafarian
Mahmoud Jafarian (Persian: محمود جعفریان ; October 1928 - 13 March 1979) was a high-ranking Iranian politician under the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He served simultaneously as deputy director for National Iranian Radio and Television (NIRT), managing director of Pars News Agency, and Vice President of the Rastakhiz Party.
Qutb Shahi tombs
The last Sultan of the dynasty, Abul Hasan Qutb Shah (also known as "Tana Shah") was not buried alongside his ancestor. Instead, he was buried at Khuldabad. The mausoleum which Abul Hasan, the last Qutb Shahi Sultan, began building for himself, actually houses the grave of Mir Ahmed, the son of Sultan Abdullah's son-in-law and the sister of Abbas II Safair, the Shah of Persia. The tomb of Fadma Khanum, one of Sultan Abdullah's daughters, stands near the mausoleum of her husband, Mir Ahmed. Hers is the only Qutb Shahi tomb not surmounted by a dome.
Patrick Ali Pahlavi
While his father was the second son of Reza Shah, founder of the Pahlavi dynasty and "Shah" of Iran, making Patrick Ali a nephew of Mohammad Reza Shah, the last reigning "Shah" of Iran. His father was the heir presumptive to his sonless brother's throne and following his death in a plane crash in 1954, Patrick Pahlavi succeeded him as heir presumptive.
Defense industry of Iran
Security of Telecommunication and Information Technology (STI) is also part of the Iranian defense industry.
Iran's military industry was born under the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1973, the Iran Electronics Industries (IEI) was founded to organize efforts to assemble and repair foreign-delivered weapons. Most of Iran's weapons before the Islamic revolution were imported from the United States and Europe. Between 1971 and 1975, the Shah went on a buying spree, ordering $8 billion in weapons from the United States alone. This alarmed the United States Congress, which strengthened a 1968 law on arms exports in 1976 and renamed it the Arms Export Control Act. Still, the United States continued to sell large amounts of weapons to Iran until the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Imperial Guard (Iran)
The Iranian Imperial Immortal Guard () was both the personal guard force of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, and an elite combat branch of the Imperial Iranian Army. It was created in 1942 and disbanded in 1979 following the Iranian Revolution. It was named after the Immortals, an elite unit of 10,000 Persian soldiers in the army of the Achaemenid Empire.
Iranian Crown Jewels
The crown jewels were last used by the Pahlavi dynasty, the last to rule Iran. The splendor of the collection came to the attention of the western world largely through their use by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his "Shahbanu" Farah Pahlavi during official ceremonies and state visits.
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh (, ; born 2 March 1942) is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the seventy-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a reformist candidate for the 2009 presidential election and eventually the leader of the opposition in the post-election unrest. Mousavi served as the president of the Iranian Academy of Arts until 2009, when Conservative authorities removed him.
Aga Khan II
Aqa Ali Shah was born in 1830 at Mahallat in Iran. He was the eldest son of Aga Khan I and the only surviving male issue of his father with Sarv-i Jahan Khanum (, d. 1882). Aqa Ali Shah was a member of the Iranian royal family, as his mother was the daughter of Fat′h Ali Shah, the second ruler of the Qajar dynasty. His rank as a prince of the royal family was also recognized by Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar when Aqa Ali Shah's father died. Nasser al-Din himself carried out a ceremony performed among Persian princes to mark the end of mourning of deceased relations. In addition, Nasser al-Din sent a robe of honour and the emblem of the Persian Crown studded with diamonds to Aga Ali Shah as a sign of the Shah's relationship with the Aga Khan's family.
Mohammad Mosaddegh
In 1925, the supporters of Reza Khan in the Majlis proposed legislation to dissolve the Qajar dynasty and appoint Reza Khan the new Shah. Mossadegh voted against such a move, arguing that such an act was a subversion of the 1906 Iranian constitution. He gave a speech in the Majlis, praising Reza Khan's achievements as prime minister while encouraging him to respect the constitution and stay as the prime minister. On 12 December 1925, the Majlis deposed the young Shah Ahmad Shah Qajar, and declared Reza Shah the new monarch of the Imperial State of Persia, and the first Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty. Mosaddegh then retired from politics, due to disagreements with the new regime.
Lotf Ali Khan
Lotf Ali Khan () (c. 1769 – 1794) was the last Shah of Persia (reigned 1789–94) of the Zand dynasty.
Manouchehr Khosrodad
Manouchehr Khosrodad (1927 – 16 February 1979) was an Iranian military major general. He was a loyal supporter of the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the final monarch of Iran who ruled from 1941 to 1979. He was executed following the 1979 revolution in Iran. 
Khosrodad a helicopter pilot, Head of the Equestrian Federation of Iran and a champion in horseback and also enjoyed skiing.
Khosrodad was the founder and the first commander of 23rd Airborne Special Forces Brigade.
He had studied at American Defense Academy and the French military school, Saint Cyr, and Switzerland. He mastered English and French.
During the Iranian Revolution of 1979, before the fall of the government, he believed that art should not be involved in politics.
Qajar dynasty
The Qajar Imperial Family in exile is currently headed by the eldest descendant of Mohammad Ali Shah, Soltan Mohammad Ali Mirza Qajar, while the Heir Presumptive to the Qajar throne is Mohammad Hassan Mirza II, the grandson of Mohammad Hassan Mirza, Soltan Ahmad Shah's brother and heir. Mohammad Hassan Mirza died in England in 1943, having proclaimed himself shah in exile in 1930 after the death of his brother in France.
Island of Stability (speech)
Island of Stability was the phrase that Jimmy Carter used to describe the circumstances of Iran under the leadership of the last Shah of Iran, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi in Christmas period of 1977, just one year before the Islamic Revolution.
List of Presidents of Iran
This is a list of the Presidents of the Islamic Republic of Iran since the establishment of that office in 1980. The President of Iran is the highest popularly elected official in the country. The current president is Hassan Rouhani, since 3 August 2013.
Abbas Gharabaghi
Abbas Gharabaghi (1 November 1918 – 14 October 2000) was the last chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces as well as deputy commander-in-chief of the Iranian Imperial Army during the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran.
Nader Jahanbani
Nader Jahanbani (; 16 April 1928 – 13 March 1979) was an Iranian general, distinguished fighter pilot of Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) and the deputy chief of the IIAF under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. Despite being executed in 1979 by Islamic Revolutionaries, he is widely lauded as the "father of the Iranian Air Force" along with general Mohammad Khatami, for modernizing the Air Force to become a potent and powerful force whose advanced equipment and training he acquired for Iran, such as the F-14 Tomcat, would save Iran's crucial infrastructure during the Iran–Iraq War. He was the Leader of the Golden Crown, the first and national aerobatics display Iranian team. He is nicknamed as the "blue eyed general of Iran".https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT7ZLlo8pTE
Gholamreza Pahlavi
Shahpur Gholamreza Pahlavi (; 15 May 1923 – 7 May 2017) was an Iranian prince and a member of the Pahlavi dynasty, as the son of Reza Shah and half-brother of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran.
Reza Shah
He also served in the Iranian Army, where he gained the rank of gunnery sergeant under Qajar Prince Abdol Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma's command. In 1911, he gave a good account of himself in later campaigns and was promoted to First Lieutenant. His proficiency in handling machine guns elevated him to the rank equivalent to Captain in 1912. By 1915 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel. His record of military service eventually led him to a commission as a Brigadier General in the Persian Cossack Brigade. He was the last commanding officer of the Brigade, and the only Iranian commander in its history, succeeding to this position the Russian colonel Vsevolod Starosselsky, whom Reza Shah had helped, in 1918, take over the brigade. He was also one of the last individuals to become an officer of the Neshan-e Aqdas prior to the collapse of the Qajar dynasty in 1925.
Hassan Toufanian
Hassan Toufanian (20 July 1913 – 28 August 1998) was an Iranian Air Force General under the Shah of Iran. He was a graduate of the Iranian Military Academy and later served as commanding officer of Iran's flight academy. In 1977 he was the Shah's Vice Minister of War and led Project Flower, which entailed an economic deal between Iran and Israel which would have built cooperation and exchanged Irani oil for an Israili missile system, but which collapsed in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution.
Qajar dynasty
The Qajar dynasty (; '; also Romanised as Ghajar, Kadjar, Qachar etc.; ) was an Iranian royal dynasty of Turkic origin, specifically from the Qajar tribe, which ruled Persia (Iran) from 1789 to 1925. The state ruled by the dynasty was officially known as the Sublime State of Persia ( '). The Qajar family took full control of Iran in 1794, deposing Lotf 'Ali Khan, the last Shah of the Zand dynasty, and re-asserted Iranian sovereignty over large parts of the Caucasus. In 1796, Mohammad Khan Qajar seized Mashhad with ease, putting an end to the Afsharid dynasty, and Mohammad Khan was formally crowned as Shah after his punitive campaign against Iran's Georgian subjects. In the Caucasus, the Qajar dynasty permanently lost many of Iran's integral areas to the Russians over the course of the 19th century, comprising modern-day Georgia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Bagher Babashah Ashtiani
In his lifetime, Babashahi was close to many prominent figures associated with the National Front of Iran such as Jalali Naeeni and Assadollah Mobasheri (who became the first minister of justice in the Islamic Republic in Bazargan's interim government). Although Babashahi greatly admired Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, he had a profound respect for Reza Shah as the "Father of Modern Iran".
Iran–United States relations
The last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, maintained close ties with the United States during most of his reign, which lasted from 1941 until he was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution in 1979. He pursued a modernizing economic policy, and a strongly pro-American foreign policy; he also made a number of visits to America, where he was regarded as a friend.
Pahlavi Crown
The Pahlavi Crown was commissioned and first used for the coronation of Reza Shah on 25 April 1926. It was used for the last time during the coronation of his son and successor Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi on 26 October 1967. The crown is currently on display with the rest of the Iranian Crown Jewels at the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran.
Mohammad-Hossein Shaker
Mohammad-Hossein Shaker () is an Iranian retired military officer who served as the Chief-of-Staff of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army from July 1979 until September 1979.
Reza Shah
Two years after the 1921 Persian coup d'état, led by Zia'eddin Tabatabaee Reza Pahlavi became Iran's prime minister. The appointment was backed by the compliant national assembly of Iran. In 1925 Reza Pahlavi was appointed as the legal monarch of Iran by decision of Iran's constituent assembly. The assembly deposed Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last Shah of the Qajar dynasty, and selected him, by amending Iran’s 1906 constitution. He founded the Pahlavi dynasty that lasted until overthrown in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution. Reza Shah introduced many social, economic, and political reforms during his reign, ultimately laying the foundation of the modern Iranian state.
Order of Pahlavi
The order was abolished by the Islamic Republic of Iran after the fall of the last Shah. Since then, the order exists as the highest dynastical decoration of the Imperial House of Pahlavi.
Qajar dynasty
Mozaffar-e-din Shah's son Mohammad Ali Shah (reigned 1907–1909), who, through his mother, was also the grandson of Prime-Minister Amir Kabir (see before), with the aid of Russia, attempted to rescind the constitution and abolish parliamentary government. After several disputes with the members of the Majles, in June 1908 he used his Russian-officered Persian Cossack Brigade (almost solely composed of Caucasian Muhajirs), to bomb the Majlis building, arrest many of the deputies (December 1907), and close down the assembly (June 1908). Resistance to the shah, however, coalesced in Tabriz, Isfahan, Rasht, and elsewhere. In July 1909, constitutional forces marched from Rasht to Tehran led by Mohammad Vali Khan Sepahsalar Khalatbari Tonekaboni, deposed the Shah, and re-established the constitution. The ex-shah went into exile in Russia. Shah died in San Remo, Italy, in April 1925. Every future Shah of Iran would also die in exile.
Shahnaz Pahlavi
Shahnaz Pahlavi (, born 27 October 1940) is the first child of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his first wife, Princess Fawzia of Egypt.
Iranian Azerbaijanis
The ill-fated Constitutional Revolution did not bring democracy to Iran. Instead, Rezā Shāh, then Brigadier-General of the Persian Cossack Brigade, deposed Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last Shah of the Qajar dynasty, and founded the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925 and established a despotic monarchy. His insistence on ethnic nationalism and cultural unitarism along with forced detribalization and sedentarization resulted in suppression of several ethnic and social groups, including Azerbaijanis. Ironically, the main architect of this totalitarian policy, which was justified by reference to racial ultra-nationalism, was Mirza Fatali Akhundov, an intellectual from Azerbaijan. In accordance with the Orientalist views of the supremacy of the "Aryan peoples", he idealized pre-Islamic Achaemenid and Sassanid empires, whilst negating the 'Islamization' of Persia by Muslim forces." This idealization of a distant past was put into practice by both the Pahlavi kings, particularly Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who honored himself with the title Āryāmehr, "Light of the Aryans". Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in an interview concisely expressed his views by declaring, "we Iranians are Aryans, and the fact that we are not adjacent to other Aryan nations in Europe is just a geographical anomaly.".
Hossein Fardoust
Hossein Fardoust (; 1917 – 18 May 1987) was a childhood friend of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and served for ten years as deputy head of SAVAK, the powerful Iranian intelligence agency.
1908 bombardment of the Majlis
Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, the Shah of Persia, who ascended the throne in January 1907 was against the constitution of 1906 ratified during regime of his father Mozzafar-al-Din Shah.After his ascension, in August 1907 an Anglo-Russian agreement divided Iran into a Russian zone in the North, a British zone in the South, and a neutral zone in the center. The British switched their support to Shah, abandoning the Constitutionalists.
The Shah later tried to subdue and eliminate the Majles with the military and political support of Russia and Britain. 
As the constitutional revolution was going on in Persia, the Shah kept himself confined to his residence at Bagh-e Shah fort in west of Tehran. He took help of Cossack Brigade to control the revolution and left the city of Tehran at their mercy. The loyalty of the Cossack Brigade was fully guaranteed, not only by the purge done by commander Vladimir Liakhov earlier, but also by the king's distribution of a special bonus earlier in 1908.
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavis came to power after Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last ruler of the Qajar dynasty, proved unable to stop British and Soviet encroachment on Iranian sovereignty, had his position extremely weakened by a military coup, and was removed from power by the parliament while in France. The National Senate, known as the "Majlis", convening as a Constituent Assembly on 12 December 1925, deposed the young Ahmad Shah Qajar, and declared Reza Khan the new King ("Shah") of the Imperial State of Persia. In 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates to use the endonym Iran in formal correspondence and the official name the Imperial State of Iran ( "Keshvar-e Shâhanshâhi-ye Irân") was adopted.
Imam Reza shrine
On 11th Rabi al-Thani 1354 A.H. /13 July 1935, the armed forces of Reza Shah (b. 1878, r. 1925-1941 A.D.), the founder of Pahlavi dynasty in Iran, invaded the holy shrine and massacred people gathered in the Goharshad Mosque. The people there were protesting against the anti-Islamic rule of Reza Shah for banning Hijab (headscarf) for women in Iran. During the days of Islamic revolution, on 21 November 1978 Mohammad Reza Shah's (b. 1919, r. 1941-1978 A.D.) troops of the Shah killed a large number of people within the holy shrine of Imam Reza.
Abdullah Bin Khaz'al
Seeking a much greater role for Sheikh Abdullah and his other sons, Sheikh Khaz'al sought the throne of Iraq in 1920. In the event, the British, intent on rewarding the Hashemites for mounting the Arab Revolt with Lawrence of Arabia, installed Faisal I and did nothing to advance Sheikh Khaz'al's ambitions. Nor did Khaz'al benefit from the deposition in 1925 of Ahmad Shah, the last of Persia's Qajar dynasty. Indeed, the British government, far from helping their ally to seize this chance of gaining full independence, switched their favours to Iran's new strongman, Reza Khan, who placed Sheikh Khaz'als Emirate under the central administration. Soon after, Khaz'al, was kidnapped by a group of Persian soldiers, header by General Fazlollah Zahedi, and taken to Tehran, where he remained under house arrest in his palace there for 11 years.
Nader Shah
Nader suggested to his closest intimates, after a great hunting party on the Moghan plains (presently split between Azerbaijan and Iran), that he should be proclaimed the new king (shah) in place of the young Abbas III. The small group of close intimates, Nader's friends, included Tahmasp Khan Jalayer and Hasan-Ali Beg Bestami. Following Nader's suggestion, the group did not "demur", and Hasan-Ali remained silent. When Nader asked him why he remained silent, Hasan-Ali replied that the best thing for Nader to do would be assembling all leading men of the state, in order to receive their agreement in "a signed and sealed document of consent". Nader approved with the proposal, and the writers of the chancellery, which included the court historian Mirza Mehdi Khan Astarabadi, were instructed with sending out orders to the military, clergy and nobility of the nation to summon at the plains. The summonses for the people to attend had gone out in November 1735, and they began arriving in January 1736. In the same month of January 1736, Nader held a "qoroltai" (a grand meeting in the tradition of Genghis Khan and Timur) on the Moghan plains. The Moghan plain was specifically chosen for its size and "abundance of fodder". Everyone agreed to the proposal of Nader becoming the new king, many—if not most—enthusiastically, the rest fearing Nader's anger if they showed support for the deposed Safavids. Nader was crowned Shah of Iran on March 8, 1736, a date his astrologers had chosen as being especially propitious, in attendance of an "exceptionally large assembly" composed of the military, religious and nobility of the nation, as well as the Ottoman ambassador Ali Pasha.
Police state
In Iran, during the reign of the Shah Reza Shah Pahlavi, from 1925 to 1941, there was an increased police presence who arrested and tortured many people who were against his rule. Police presence and surveillance increased even more under the rule of Reza Shah's son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, from 1941 to 1979, with the creation of the SAVAK secret police. They were seen positioned on every street corner and were fiercely loyal to the Shah's rule and arrested and tortured many people; this reign also saw a sharp increase in political prisoners. Public anger and mass uprisings against the Shah led to the Iranian Revolution in 1979 led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which resulted in the overthrow of the Shah's reign and thus the abolishing of the Iranian monarchy and the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, ending the over-2,500-year history of the monarchy. Police presence once again increased and worsened drastically with the creation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in particular the morality police, the Basij militia, who forcefully uphold Islamic law on civilians.
Shahbanu
Shahbanu ( "Šahbānū" lit. "King's Lady") was the title for queen consort in Persian and other Iranian languages. The two Sassanian empresses, Purandokht and Azarmidokht, c. 630, were the last two that carried the title before Farah Pahlavi, the wife of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, assumed the title on being crowned queen in 1967 for the first time since the Arab conquest of Iran in the 7th century.
Achaemenid architecture
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Shah of Iran), the last official monarch of Persia, during his 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire paid significant homage to the Achaemenid kings and specially Cyrus the Great. Just as Alexander the Great before him, the Shah of Iran wanted to appeal to Cyrus's legacy to legitimize his own rule by extension. Shah of Iran however was generally interested in protection of imperial historical artifacts.
Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The current President of Iran is  Hassan Rouhani, who assumed office on August 3, 2013, after the 2013 Iranian presidential election. He succeeded Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who served 8 years in office from 2005 to 2013.
Mohammad Jafar Montazeri
Mohammad Jafar Montazeri (; born 1949 in Qom) is an Iranian cleric and judge and the current Attorney-General of Iran since 1 April 2016. He was previously head of Iran's Administrative Justice Court and Special Clerical Court.
The Enigma of the Shah
He was last Shah of Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979.
He was a student of medical university and became a doctor of pharmacy
Background and causes of the Iranian Revolution
Reza Shah was deposed in 1941 by an invasion of allied British and Soviet troops who believed him to be sympathetic with the allies' enemy Nazi Germany. His son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was installed by the allies as monarch. Prince Pahlavi (later crowned shah) reigned until the 1979 revolution with one brief interruption. In 1953 he fled the country after a power-struggle with his Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. Mossadegh is remembered in Iran for having been voted into power through a democratic election, nationalizing Iran's British-owned oil fields, and being deposed in a military coup d'état organized by an American CIA operative and aided by the British MI6. Thus foreign powers were involved in both the installation and restoration of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Iranian Revolution
Demonstrations against the Shah commenced in October 1977, developing into a campaign of civil resistance that included both secular and religious elements, and which intensified in January 1978. Between August and December 1978, strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country. The Shah left Iran for exile on 16 January 1979, as the last Persian monarch, leaving his duties to a regency council and Shapour Bakhtiar who was an opposition-based prime minister. Ayatollah Khomeini was invited back to Iran by the government, and returned to Tehran to a greeting by several million Iranians. The royal reign collapsed shortly after on 11 February when guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Shah in armed street fighting, bringing Khomeini to official power. Iran voted by national referendum to become an Islamic republic on 1 April 1979 and to formulate and approve a new theocratic-republican constitution whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country in December 1979.
President of Iran
The current President of Iran is Hassan Rouhani, assumed office on 3 August 2013, after the 2013 Iranian presidential election. He succeeded Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who served 8 years in office from 2005 to 2013. Rouhani won re-election in the 2017 presidential election.
Ruhollah Khomeini's return to Iran
Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini, 24 September 1902 – 3 June 1989), known in the Western world as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Iranian Shia Muslim religious leader, philosopher, revolutionary and politician. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that saw the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's Supreme Leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death.
On 1 February 1979 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, returned to Iran after 14 years in political exile. Khomeini had been a prominent opponent of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who had fled the country during the events of the Iranian Revolution. Upon his return, he was greeted by crowds of millions, and within 10 days the revolution would be successful. Khomeini's return and the 10 days following are now celebrated in Iran as the Fajr decade.
Samad Samadianpour
Imperial Iranian General Samad Samadianpour (1919-1982) was the Chief of Police of Iran during the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.
Ahmad Mirfendereski
Ahmad Mirfendereski (9 May 1918 - 2 May 2004) was an Iranian diplomat, politician and the last minister of foreign affairs of the Shah era in Iran.
Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani
Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani () (born February 20, 1919) is one of the most senior Twelver Shia Marja living in Iran after Ali Khamenei. He was born in Golpaygan, Iran. He has studied in seminaries of Qom, Iran under Grand Ayatollah Borujerdi. He currently resides and teaches in the Seminary of Qom, Iran.
He is a supporter of the Islamic revolution in Iran and is known for his fatwa calling for the death of rapper Shahin Najafi for apostasy.
The Shah (book)
The Shah is a 2011 book by Abbas Milani, published by Macmillan. It is a biography of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the final Shah of Iran.
Tadj ol-Molouk
Queen Nimtaj had four children: Shams, Mohammad Reza, the last Shah of Iran, and his twin sister Ashraf, and Ali Reza.
Coronations in Asia
The Shahs of Persia (or Iran, after 1935) crowned themselves in an elaborate coronation ritual staged in Tehran, their capital. The last of these was the coronation of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran in 1967. The ceremony took place in the Grand Hall of the Golestan Palace, and commenced with the ceremonial entrance of the Crown Prince into the coronation hall. Moving past the assembled guests, the prince took his place in front of a throne set to the left of his father's, where he remained standing awaiting the arrival of his parents.
Qajar dynasty
Fath Ali Shah's reign saw increased diplomatic contacts with the West and the beginning of intense European diplomatic rivalries over Iran. His grandson Mohammad Shah, who fell under the Russian influence and made two unsuccessful attempts to capture Herat, succeeded him in 1834. When Mohammad Shah died in 1848 the succession passed to his son Nasser-e-Din, who proved to be the ablest and most successful of the Qajar sovereigns. He founded the first modern hospital in Iran.
Lodi dynasty
Bahlul Khan Lodi () was the nephew and son-in-law of Malik Sultan Shah Lodi, the governor of Sirhind in (Punjab), India and succeeded him as the governor of Sirhind during the reign of Sayyid dynasty ruler Muhammad Shah. Muhammad Shah raised him to the status of an emir. He was the most powerful of the Punjab chiefs and a vigorous leader, holding together a loose confederacy of Afghan and Turkish chiefs with his strong personality. He reduced the turbulent chiefs of the provinces to submission and infused some vigour into the government. After the last Sayyid ruler of Delhi, Ala-ud-Din Aalm Shah voluntarily abdicated in favour of him, Bahlul Khan Lodi ascended the throne of the Delhi sultanate on 19 April 1451. The most important event of his reign was the conquest of Jaunpur. Bahlul spent most of his time in fighting against the Sharqi dynasty and ultimately annexed it. He placed his eldest surviving son Barbak on the throne of Jaunpur in 1486.
2017–18 Iranian protests
In some demonstrations, protestors provocatively chanted "Reza Shah, bless your soul", a reference to Reza Shah, the leader of Iran during 1925–41 and founder of the Pahlavi dynasty that was deposed in the 1979 revolution that led to establishment of the current government. Protestors also shouted slogans praising the (deceased) deposed shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his son and former heir-apparent, the exiled Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran. The protesters called for Khamenei to step down, as well as tore down and set fire to posters of Khamenei in Tehran. Protesters also shouted: "Khamenei, shame on you, leave the country alone!" and "death to the dictator". Protesters also chanted "People are paupers while the mullahs live like gods."
Farrokh Shahr
The former Queen of Iran Soraya Esfandiari, the second wife of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi the last king of Iran who was regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world was born in Farrokh Shahr and had spent part of her childhood in this city. Her father's castle in Farokh Shahr was well preserved until a few years ago, and just recently destroyed. The people of Farrokh Shahr are Persian and speak the Persian language.
Shahrokh Shah
Shahrokh Mirza was the son of Reza Qoli Mirza Afshar, who was the son of the powerful Iranian shah Nader Shah (r. 1736-1747), who had briefly carved what was arguably the most powerful empire at the time. Shahrokh's mother was the Safavid princess Fatimeh Sultan Begum, who was the daughter of the Safavid shah Sultan Husayn (r. 1694–1722), thus making Shahrokh part of the Safavid royal family.
National Car Museum of Iran
The National Car Museum of Iran ( "Muze Melli Xodrodu Irân") is a museum in Karaj, Iran, opened in 2001. Displayed at the museum are classic cars owned by the last Shah of the Pahlavi Dynasty, Mohammad Reza Shah. In addition to the large museum which is open to the public, there is a restoration center at the back closed to the public.
List of titles and honours of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) held numerous titles and honours, both during and before his time as Shah of Iran.From his father's accession to the throne, on 15 December 1925, until his own accession, on 16 September 1941, Mohammad Reza held the style and title of "His Imperial Highness The Crown Prince". Mohammad Reza deliberately chose to crown himself as Shah ('King'), rather than Shahanshah ('King of Kings'), pledging that he would not do so until he turned Iran into a prosperous and modernised nation. On the 26th year of his reign, in 1967, his imperial coronation ceremony took place and he was elevated to the title of Shahanshah.
Hossein Khan Sardar
Hossein Qoli Khan Sardar Qajar (), better simply known as Hossein Khan Sardar () (born ca. 1742 – died 1831) was an Iranian statesman in Qajar Iran, who was the last governor of the Erivan Khanate from 1807 to 1828. Around 1826–1828, he and Abbas Mirza, the crown prince, attempted to win back the Transcaucasian and Dagestanian possessions lost to Russia during the war of 1804-1813 which had ended with the Gulistan Treaty. However, using superior tactics and weapons developed since their defeat of Napoleon, the Tsar’s generals inflicted even greater losses on Iran.
In addition to ceding further territories, the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay forced Iran to pay crippling reparations. The treaty also banned Hossein Khan and his younger brother, Hasan Khan, from ever venturing north of the Aras River, the new border.
Shapour Bakhtiar
Shapour Bakhtiar ( ; 26 June 19146 August 1991) was an Iranian politician who served as the last Prime Minister of Iran under the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. He and his secretary were murdered in his home in Suresnes, near Paris by agents of the Islamic Republic.
Palace
Niavarān Palace Complex is a historical complex situated in the northern part of Tehran, Iran. It consists of several buildings and a museum. The Sahebqraniyeh Palace, from the time of Naser al-Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty, is also inside this complex. The main Niavaran Palace, completed in 1968, was the primary residence of the last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the Imperial family until the Iranian Revolution. The main palace was designed by the Iranian architect Mohsen Foroughi.
Guadeloupe Conference
The leaders at the Guadeloupe Conference suggested that Shah leave Iran as early as possible. After the meeting, domestic protests and opposition to the Pahlavi dynasty increased. After the conference ended, the Shah's regime collapsed and he left Iran for exile on 16 January 1979, the last monarch of the Pahlavi dynasty.
Ali-Reza Pahlavi
Prince Alireza Pahlavi (; 28 April 1966 – 4 January 2011) was a member of the Pahlavi Imperial Family of Iran (Persia).
He was the younger son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the former Shah of Iran and his third wife Farah Diba. He was second in order of succession to the Iranian throne before the Iranian Revolution.
Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran
Reza Pahlavi (; born 31 October 1960) is the last heir apparent to the defunct throne of the Imperial State of Iran and is the current head of the exiled House of Pahlavi. He is the older son of the late Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his third wife Farah Diba.
Shah
In the twentieth century, the Shah of Persia, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, officially adopted the title "Šāhanšāh" and, in western languages, the rendering "Emperor". He also styled his wife "Shahbānu" ("Empress"). Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the last Shah, as the Iranian monarchy was abolished after the 1979 Iranian Revolution."Shahzadeh" (Persian شاهزاده "Šāhzādeh"). In the realm of a shah (or a more lofty derived ruler style), a prince or princess of the blood was logically called "shahzada" as the term is derived from shah using the Persian patronymic suffix "-zādeh" or "-zāda", "born from" or "descendant of". However the precise full styles can differ in the court traditions of each shah's kingdom. This title was given to the princes of the Ottoman Empire ("Şehzade", Ottoman Turkish: شهزاده) and was used by the princes of Islamic India ("Shahzāda", Urdu: شہزاده) such as in the Mughal Empire. It is to be noted, however, that the Mughals and the Sultans of Delhi were not of Indian origin but of Mongol-Turkic origin and were heavily influenced by Persian culture, a continuation of traditions and habits ever since Persian language was first introduced into the region by Persianised Turkic and Afghan dynasties centuries earlier.
Monarch
In modern history, between 1925 and 1979, Iran was ruled by two Emperors from the Pahlavi dynasty that used the title of "Shahanshah" (or "King of Kings"). The last Iranian Shahanshah was King Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was forced to abdicate the throne as a result of a revolution in Iran. In fact Persian (Iranian) kingdom goes back to about 2,700 BC (see List of Kings of Persia), but reached its ultimate height and glory when King Cyrus the Great (Known as "The Great Kourosh" in Iran) started the Achaemenid dynasty, and under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia and the Caucasus. From the Mediterranean sea and Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, Cyrus the Great created the largest empire the world had yet seen.
2017–18 Iranian protests
Since 1989, Ali Khamenei has ruled Iran as Supreme Leader, making him the second-longest serving head of state in the Middle East (after Oman's Sultan Qaboos), as well as the second-longest serving Iranian leader of the last century, after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Iranian Azerbaijanis
Jahan Shah (r. 1438-67), the Qara Qoyunlu (“black sheep”) ruler of Azerbaijan was a master poet. He compiled a "diwan" under the pen-name Haqiqi. Shah Isma'il (1487-1524), who used the pen-name Khata'i, was a prominent ruler-poet and has, apart from his "diwan" compiled a mathnawi called Deh-name, consisting of some eulogies of Ali, the fourth Caliph of early Islam. After the Safavid era, Azeri could not sustain its early development. The main theme of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was the development of verse-folk stories, mainly intended for performance by Ashughs in weddings. The most famous among these literary works are "Koroghlu", Ashiq Qərib, and "Kərəm ile Əslı".
History of the Jews in Iran
Yousef Cohen, last Jewish representative of Iranian Senate describes in his memoirs that Shah became suspicious of Jewish community in his final years because most of the international criticism about lack of freedom in Iran and military style of government came from Jewish authors. Furthermore, the writer for the influential and highly publicized book, fall of 77 (probably Crash of 79 by Paul Erdman mistakenly called 77 by Cohen), which predicted the fall of Shah a few years prior to his demise was Jewish. Shah, according to Cohen, displayed a remarkable intolerance and annoyance by the Jewish community in has last annual visit in March 1978 with the community leaders. Cohen describes that Shah believed that there is an international Jewish conspiracy against him to end his reign as the king.
Islamic Republic of Iran Navy
Mohammed-Reza, the last Shah of Iran ordered four modern general purpose destroyers from the United States and eight modified s from Royal Schelde, but both contracts were canceled after the Iranian revolution. The destroyers were instead commissioned in the U.S. Navy as the , while construction of the frigates had not yet started.
Pir Irani
Hazrat Pir Syed Mustafa Sibghatullah Shah Irani (1900–1986), popularly known as Pir Irani, was a Sufi saint who was the Khalifa of Hazrat Baba Ji Khawaja Muhammad Qasim of Mohra Sharif. He gained spiritual light from Hazrat Baba Ji Khawaja Muhammad Qasim Sadiq of Mohra Sharif. His father named him as Sibghatullah, and mother liked the name Mustafa. He got the Title "Pir Irani" from his Murshid Hazrat Baba Ji Khawaja Muhammad Qasim Sadiq of Mohra Sharif. He was born in Iran and belonged to an influential Syed family. His ancestors were associated with Shahanshah Iran dynasty from centuries. After getting basic education, he graduated from military academy. Reza Shah Pahlavi called him and assigned the job of Assistant to General Auditor. After the war of Ispahan, he became close aide of Reza Shah Pahlavi . His interest in islam compelled him to look for a guide Murshid or Pir. He got his initial training Sulook from Hazrat Aaka Shams-ul-Urafa at Tehran, Iran. After one year of his spiritual education Sulook, his master Murshid directed him "Pir Irani" to seek further spiritual education from Hindustan "India". He started his journey towards Hindustan, while traveling, he met with Hazrat Khizer Al-Khidr who guided him towards Baba Ji Khawaja Muhammad Qasim Sadiq. He got his spiritual Education from 1930 till 1938 at Mohra Sharif . He got khilafat or Ijaza in Sufi orders especially named four Sufi orders i.e. Naqshbandi, Suhrawardiyya, Chishti Order, Qadiriyyah. He was then sent to Sindh, Pakistan to preach others.
The Enigma of the Shah
The Enigma of the Shah (Persian: معمای شاه mo'ammāye shāh) is an Iranian historical drama directed by Mohammad Reza Varzi. The story focuses on Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, and the events leading up to the 1979 Iranian revolution which led to the abolition of the monarchy.
History of Iran
Iran's territorial integrity was restored by a native Iranian Turkic Afshar warlord from Khorasan, Nader Shah. He defeated and banished the Afghans, defeated the Ottomans, reinstalled the Safavids on the throne, and negotiated Russian withdrawal from Irans Caucasian territories, by the Treaty of Resht and Treaty of Ganja. By 1736, Nader had become so powerful he was able to depose the Safavids and have himself crowned shah. Nader was one of the last great conquerors of Asia and briefly possessed over what was probably the most powerful empire in the world. To financially aid his wars against Persia's archrival, the Ottoman Empire, he fixated his mind on the weak but rich Mugal Empire to the east. In 1739, accompanied by his loyal Caucasian subjects including Erekle II, he invaded Mughal India, defeated a numerically superior Mughal army in less than three hours, and completely sacked and looted Delhi, bringing back immense wealth to Persia. On his way back, he also conquered all Uzbek khanates – except Kokand – and made the Uzbeks his vassals. He also firmly reestablished Persian rule over the entire Caucasus, Bahrain, as well as large parts of Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Undefeated for years, his defeat in Dagestan, following guerrilla rebellions by the Lezgins and the assassination attempt on him near Mazandaran is often marked as the turning point in Nader's impressive career. Frustratingly for him, the Dagestanis resorted to guerrilla warfare and Nader with his standard army could make little headway against them. At the Battle of Andalal and the Battle of Avaria, Nader's army was crushingly defeated and he lost half of his entire force, as well forcing him to flee for the mountains. Though Nader managed to take most of Dagestan during his campaign, the effective guerrilla warfare as deployed by the Lezgins, but also the Avars and Laks made the Iranian re-conquest of the particular North Caucasian region this time a short lived one; several years later, Nader was forced to withdraw. Around the same time, the assassination attempt was made on him near Mazandaran which accelerated the course of history; he slowly grew ill and megalomaniac, blinding his sons whom he suspected of the assassination attempts, and increasing cruelty against his subjects and officers. In his later years this eventually provoked multiple revolts and, ultimately, Nader's assassination in 1747.
Reza Shah
Reza Shah was the first Iranian Monarch in 1400 years who paid respect to the Jews by praying in the synagogue when visiting the Jewish community of Isfahan; an act that boosted the self-esteem of the Iranian Jews and made Reza Shah their second most respected Iranian leader after Cyrus the Great. Reza Shah's reforms opened new occupations to Jews and allowed them to leave the ghetto. This point of view, however, may be refuted by the claims that the anti-Jewish incidents of September 1922 in parts of Tehran was a plot by Reza Khan.
Mohammad Hassan Mirza
Mohammad Hassan Mirza (20 November 1899 – 7 January 1943), was the brother of Ahmad Shah Qajar of Iran, and former Crown Prince of the Qajar dynasty. Soon after Reza Shah deposed the Qajar dynasty and made himself Shah of Iran in 1925, Prince Mohammad Hassan and his family were sent into permanent exile to England. In 1930, he declared himself the rightful heir to the crown as pretender to the throne. He died on 7 January 1943 in Maidenhead, England and was buried in Kerbala, Iraq.
Shahriar Shafiq
Shahriar Shafiq (; 15 March 1945 – 7 December 1979) was the son of Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, twin sister of the Shah of Iran, and Ahmad Shafiq.
Gholam Ali Oveissi
Gholam-Ali Oveissi was an Iranian four-star general and the Chief Commander of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He was the last general to head the Imperial Army of Iran. He is regarded as one of the most powerful and adept military generals in Iran’s modern history.
Ismail II
Ismail Mirza () later known by his first dynastic name of Ismail II () (31 May 1537– 24 November 1577) was the third Safavid Shah of Iran, ruling from 1576 to 1577.
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar (; 14 March 1742 – 17 June 1797), also known by his regnal name of Agha Mohammad Shah (, ), was the founder of the Qajar dynasty of Iran, ruling from 1789 to 1797 as king (shah). Originally chieftain of the Qoyunlu branch of the Qajar tribe, Agha Mohammad Khan was enthroned as the king of Iran in 1789, but was not officially crowned until March 1796, having deposed Lotf Ali Khan of the Zand dynasty in 1794. Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar was famously the eunuch Monarch, being castrated as a young adult upon his capture by Adel Shah Afshar, and hence was childless. On June 17, 1797, he was assassinated, and was succeeded by his nephew, Fath-Ali Shah Qajar.
Imperial Guard (Iran)
The last commander of the Imperial Guard at the time of the 1979 Iranian Revolution was Lieutenant General Ali Neshat. One of the former Guard commanders was General Gholam Ali Oveisi (1960–1965). One of the original commanders, General Jafar Shafaghat, during the last months prior to the fall of the monarchy in 1979 was appointed by the Shah as the minister of defense (the literal translation of this post from Persian is minister of war) under Shapour Bakhtiar Cabinet until the fall of the government.
2017–18 Iranian protests
The current Iranian regime came into power following the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the Pahlavi dynasty overthrown in favor of a theocratic Islamic Republic led by Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini.
Fath-Ali Shah Qajar
Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (; var. Fathalishah, Fathali Shah, Fath Ali Shah; 25 September 1772 – 23 October 1834) was the second Shah (Qajar emperor) of Iran. He reigned from 17 June 1797 until his death. His reign saw the irrevocable ceding of Iran's northern territories in the Caucasus, comprising what is nowadays Georgia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, to the Russian Empire following the Russo-Persian Wars of 1804–13 and 1826–28 and the resulting treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay. Historian Joseph M. Upton says that he "is famous among Persians for three things: his exceptionally long beard, his wasp-like waist, and his progeny."
Ahmad Shah Qajar
Ahmad Shah Qajar (; 21 January 1898 – 21 February 1930) was Shah (King) of Persia from 16 July 1909 to 15 December 1925, and the last ruling member of the Qajar dynasty.
Iranian Revolution
Insecurity and chaos created after the Constitutional Revolution led to the rise of General Reza Khan, the commander of the elite Persian Cossack Brigade who seized power in a coup d'état in February 1921. He established a constitutional monarchy, deposing the last of the Qajar shah in 1925, and introduced many social, economic, and political reforms during his reign. A number of these reforms led to public discontent which provided the circumstances for the Iranian revolution. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's father, Reza Shah, replaced Islamic laws with Western ones, which forbade traditional Islamic clothing, separation of the sexes and veiling of women's faces with the niqab. Police forcibly removed and tore chadors off women who resisted his ban on the public hijab. In 1935, dozens were killed and hundreds injured in the Goharshad Mosque rebellion. On the other hand, during the early rise of Reza Shah, Abdul-Karim Ha'eri Yazdi founded the Qom Seminary and created important changes in seminaries. However, he would avoid entering into political issues, as did other religious leaders who followed him. Hence, no widespread anti-government attempts were organized by clergy during the rule of Reza Shah. However, the future Ayatollah Khomeini was a student of Sheikh Abdul Karim Ha'eri.
Qajar dynasty
In February 1921, Reza Khan, commander of the Persian Cossack Brigade, staged a coup d'état, becoming the effective ruler of Iran. In 1923, Ahmad Shah went into exile in Europe. Reza Khan induced the Majles to depose Ahmad Shah in October 1925, and to exclude the Qajar dynasty permanently. Reza Khan was subsequently proclaimed monarch as "Reza Shah Pahlavi", reigning from 1925 to 1941.
1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election
Former Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam, writing from exile in Paris, published an open letter to the Shah which was very critical of any change to the Constitution. Qavam compared the Shah negatively to the hated Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, Iran's short-lived ruler who fought to reverse the democratic advances allowed by his father in 1906. Qavam said the current shah would create a political backlash if he tried to take more power—a prediction that later proved correct. Rather than respond personally, the Shah directed former prime minister Ebrahim Hakimi to publish a severe chastisement of Qavam, accusing him of treasonous collusion with the Soviets during the Iran crisis of 1946. The Shah forbid newspapers in Tehran to print Qavam's first letter and a response; only Hakimi's letter was printed. The Shah also took away the honorific title of "hazrat-e ashraf" (his noblest excellency) that he had conferred upon Qavam for the same diplomatic achievements that were now being called treason.
Amir Hossein Jahanshahi
The elders of Amir Hossein Jahanshahi’s family belong to the Kara Koyunlu clan which has a 500 year history of governing a number of key provinces in Iran. Based in Tabriz, the ‘Gharghoyonlou’ ruled over significant sectors of contemporary Iran, including Azerbaijan, Khuzestan, Kerman, Fars and Heart as well as parts of present day Iraq. The last ‘Gharghoyonlou’ ruler was Jahan Shah.
White
In Iran, the White Revolution was a series of social and political reforms launched in 1963 by the last Shah of Iran before his downfall.
Abolghasem Khazali
Ayatollah Abolghasem Khazali Boroujerdi (, 21 March 1925 – 16 September 2015) was a hardline Iranian politician, fundamentalist Shi'i cleric and a founding member of Haghani school with close ties with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Saeed Jalili. He was the conservative chairman of the Guardian Council, and was the oldest member of the current Assembly of Experts. Before the Islamic Revolution, he was one of the strongest challengers of the Shah, and was taken to jail several times. He died on 16 September 2015.
Shams Pahlavi
Princess Shams Pahlavi (; – ) was the elder sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. During her brother's reign she was the president of the Red Lion and Sun Society.
Shahnaz Pahlavi
Shahnaz Pahlavi was born in Tehran on 27 October 1940. She is the only child of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his first wife Princess Fawzia Fuad. Shahnaz is the half-sister of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, Princess Farahnaz Pahlavi, Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi II and Princess Leila Pahlavi – the four children of the Shah by his third wife, Shahbanou Farah Pahlavi. Her maternal grandparents were King Fuad I and Queen Nazli of Egypt; and her paternal grandparents were Rezā Shāh Pahlavi and Queen Tadj ol-Molouk of Iran. She is also the niece of King Farouk I of Egypt and thus a cousin of the last Egyptian King, Fuad II.
Gholam Hossein Sadighi
By 1978, Iran was gripped by mass turmoil and there was a significant danger that Mohammad Reza Pahlavi would be toppled by a mass rebellion led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Because of this threat, the Shah appointed Sedighi as the prime minister in order to rally the moderates behind the government and neutralize the religious opposition. However, the plan collapsed over Sedighi's insistence that the Shah remain in the country and that full executive powers be entrusted in the premier's cabinet, two things that the Shah refused to grant. Because of this, Sedighi left the scene and the Shah instead appointed Dr. Shapour Bakhtiar (one of the leaders of the National Front (Iran)) as prime Minister of Iran. Sedighi was a patriot who never left Iran and lived in Tehran until his death in March 1990. He is buried in Ebn-e Baveh cemetery in Iran.
Mohammad Baqer Shirazi
Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Mohammad Baqir Shirazi (Persian: السيد محمد باقر شيرازي‎; 26 November 1931 – 13 May 2014) was an Iranian Twelver Shi'a Marja. He was the highest-ranking Shia marja in Iran and Iraq.
History of Iran
Fath Ali Shah's reign saw increased diplomatic contacts with the West and the beginning of intense European diplomatic rivalries over Iran. His grandson Mohammad Shah, who fell under the Russian influence and made two unsuccessful attempts to capture Herat, succeeded him in 1834. When Mohammad Shah died in 1848 the succession passed to his son Nasser-e-Din, who proved to be the ablest and most successful of the Qajar sovereigns.
Zia'eddin Tabatabaee
Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee (June 1889 – August 29, 1969; ) was an Iranian politician and the Prime Minister of Iran (Persia) from February to May 1921 under Ahmad Shah, the last Shah of the Qajar dynasty.