Rostam Pirasteh

Early life and education Pirasteh was born in . (The New York Times reported in January 1979 that Pirasteh was aged 49, indicating an approximate year of birth 1929.) After completing his studies in 1966, he joined the management consulting firm McKinsey, where he worked until 1969. He subsequently joined the faculty of Columbia Business School as a member of its academic staff. He later entered the banking sector and worked at Chase Bank where he served as a senior vice president.

Career Banking career in Iran In early 1975, Pirasteh resigned from Chase Manhattan Bank and returned to Iran to establish the International Bank of Iran (IBI), where he became head of the institution. IBI operated as a full-service commercial bank and was structured as a publicly owned corporation, with approximately 35 percent ownership held by Chase Manhattan Bank. Under Pirasteh's leadership, the bank expanded significantly and became one of Iran's largest financial institutions, reportedly reaching a balance sheet exceeding $1 billion. Following the establishment of the post-revolutionary government in 1979, the bank was nationalized.

Political career Pirasteh later joined the government of prime minister Shapour Bakhtiar, serving as minister of Finance and Economic Affairs (1978–1979) during the final period of the Imperial State of Iran. His tenure coincided with the political crisis preceding the collapse of the Pahlavi government during the Iranian Revolution. After the revolutionary government took power, Pirasteh was arrested and imprisoned by the new government for approximately four months.

After his release from prison, he remained in Iran for several months before eventually moving to the United States, after which little is publicly known about his later life.

In late 1979, he provided an assessment of political conditions in revolutionary Iran, particularly regarding the leadership of Ruhollah Khomeini and the emerging structure of the new Islamic Republic. According to a memorandum prepared for U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, Pirasteh described the revolutionary government as lacking coherent administrative planning and argued that economic pressures and institutional instability could undermine the durability of the new political order. He also offered views on the ongoing Iran hostage crisis, concerning skepticism regarding prospects for a negotiated resolution while Ruhollah Khomeini remained in power.

Coup In the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, he was accused of participating in the Nojeh coup plot, an alleged conspiracy aimed at overthrowing the government of Ruhollah Khomeini.