Mohammad Taghi Riahi

Mohammad Taghi Riahi Chaleshtari (1910–4 August 1988) was an Iranian senior military officer in the Iranian Imperial Army.

Biography Riahi was born in Chaleshtar neighborhood in 1910 to a landowning family. He graduated from Dar al-Fonun in Tehran. His tenure lasted from 1 March to 19 August 1953 when a coup d'état occurred. From The New York Times:

The operation, the secret history says, "still might have succeeded in spite of this advance warning had not most of the participants proved to be inept or lacking in decision at the critical juncture." Dr. Mossadegh's chief of staff, Gen. Taghi Riahi, learned of the plot hours before it was to begin and sent his deputy to the barracks of the Imperial Guard. The deputy was arrested there, according to the history, just as pro-shah soldiers were fanning out across the city arresting other senior officials.

Although Riahi was sentenced to death, he was released from the prison after three years. However, upon the request of Mehdi Bazargan who led the interim government Riahi returned to Iran and took office as the minister of national defence for a short time. Following the end of his tenure Riahi went to France and died in Nice in 1988.