Fazlollah Zahedi

Fazlollah Zahedi (, ; 17 May 1892 – 2 September 1963) was an Iranian military officer and statesman who replaced the Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh through a coup d'état supported by the United States and the United Kingdom.

Early life Early years Born in Hamadan on 17 May 1892, Fazlollah Zahedi was the son of Abol Hassan "Bassir Diwan" Zahedi, a wealthy landowner. He was a descendant of the Sufi mystic Sheikh Zahed Gilani and Sheikh Safi-ad-Din Ardabili, the eponym of the Safavid dynasty, and through his mother, Djavaher Khanom, he traced his descent to the dynastic ruler Karim Khan Zand. Through him, Zahedi was a distant relative of Mohammad Mosaddegh.

During his service at the Imperial Russian-trained Iranian Cossack Brigade, one of his military superiors was Reza Khan, who later became the Iranian monarch. Zahedi was among the officers dispatched to Gilan to put an end to the Jangal movement of Mirza Kuchik Khan. At the age of 23, as a company commander, Zahedi led troops into battle against rebel tribesmen in the northern provinces. Two years later, Reza Shah promoted him to the rank of brigadier general. He was involved in the overthrow of Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee's government in 1920 with the help of Meguertitch Khan Davidkhanian.

During Reza Shah's reign, General Zahedi was named military governor of Khuzestan province in 1926, which was his first important government position. In 1932, he was appointed Chief of National Police, one of the nation's top internal posts. In 1941, he was appointed Commanding General of the Isfahan division.

Arrest and internment Following the forced abdication of Reza Shah in 1941, the British came to believe that Zahedi was planning a general uprising in cooperation with German forces: he had close Nazi connections and as one of the worst grain-hoarders, he was responsible for widespread popular discontent in Iran. He was arrested in his own office by Fitzroy Maclean, who details the operation, codenamed PONGO, in his 1949 memoir Eastern Approaches. On searching Zahedi's bedroom Maclean found "a collection of automatic weapons of German manufacture, a good deal of silk underwear, some opium, an illustrated register of the prostitutes of Isfahan," and correspondence from a local German agent.

Premiership and later years General Zahedi was appointed prime minister in August 1953, and his cabinet was declared on 20 August. One-third of the ministers in Zahedi's cabinet were army officers.

Personal life

Zahedi married Khadijeh Pirnia ol-Moluk, daughter of Hossein Pirnia (titled Mo'tamen al Molk), and maternal granddaughter to Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar. They had a son, Ardeshir, and a daughter, Homa. Ardeshir was a politician and diplomat who married Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi, the daughter of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi from his first marriage to Princess Fawzia of Egypt, daughter of King Fuad I. His daughter Homa Zahedi was a member of Parliament, representing the constituency of the Hamadan province. She was married to journalist and politician Dariush Homayoon.

According to The New York Times report a day after the 1953 coup, "General Zahedi married twice, but it is not known here whether his second wife is living. By his second wife he had two sons, one of whom lives in Sydney, Australia, while the second son, an air force officer, was killed in a crash".

In 1948, Zahedi founded a hospital in the town of Damagh named after his mother, Zahra Zahedi, who wished for the construction of this hospital in her will. Zahedi himself allocated money to the hospital. According to a letter written to Ardeshir, the hospital enjoyed an outstanding reputation.