Ahmad Mirfendereski

Ahmad Mirfendereski (9 May 1918 - 2 May 2004)[2][3] was an Iranian diplomat, politician and the last minister of foreign affairs of the Shah era in Iran.

Ahmad Mirfendereski
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
5 January 1979 – 11 February 1979
MonarchMohammad Reza Pahlavi
Prime MinisterShahpour Bakhtiar
Preceded byAmir Khosrow Afshar
Succeeded byKarim Sanjabi
Personal details
Born9 May 1918
Tehran, Iran
Died2 May 2004 (aged 85)
Paris, France
NationalityIranian
Political partyNational Resistance Movement of Iran (1979–1991)[1]

Career

Mirfendereski began his career at the ministry of foreign affairs and held many posts there. He served as the ambassador of Iran to the Soviet Union in the sixties.[2] Upon returning to Tehran, he was appointed as deputy minister of foreign affairs in 1970.[2] He served in the post until October 1973[4] when he was dismissed because he allowed Soviet civil airplanes to fly spare parts to Iraq to be employed in the war with Israel without consent of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.[5][6]

He was appointed foreign minister to the cabinet led by Shahpour Bakhtiar in January 1979, replacing Abbas Ali Khalatbari in the post.[7][8] His term lasted very short, just 37 days, and ended in February 1979 when an Islamic revolution occurred in the country.[9] Karim Sanjabi succeeded him as foreign minister.[8]

Later years

After leaving office, Mirfendereski was arrested and put at Qasr prison in Tehran where other senior officials were also detained.[10] Then he was freed. He left Iran and settled in Paris. In the exile he joined the National Resistance Movement headed by Bakhtiar.[7] In 1984, Mirfendereski declared in Paris that the Shah's cancer had been diagnosed in 1974, six years before his death in Egypt on 27 July 1980 and that it had been kept secret until the revolution.[9]

Personal life and death

Mirfendereski was married and had three children, two daughters and a son.[2] He died in France at the age of 85 on 2 May 2004.[11][12]

References
  1. Khonsari, Mehrdad (1995). The National Movement of the Iranian Resistance 1979-1991: The role of a banned opposition movement in international politics (PhD thesis). London School of Economics and Political Science. p. 142. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  2. Mahmoud Ghaffari (7 May 2004). "Sense and humor". The Iranian. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  3. "Index Mf-Mn". Rulers. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  4. "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976" (PDF). Department of State. Washington DC. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  5. Trita Parsi (2007). Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States. Yale University Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-300-12057-8. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  6. R. W. Apple Jr. (6 January 1979). "Iran future brighter". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Tehran. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  7. Sepehr Zabir (2012). The Left in Contemporary Iran (RLE Iran D). CRC Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-136-81263-7.
  8. "Iran Rulers effective 1694 to Date". Peymanmeli. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  9. "Iron's Exiles Ponder What Went Wrong". The Palm Beach Post. Paris. AP. 11 February 1984. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  10. Cyrus Kadivar (4 March 2003). "37 days. A cautionary tale that must not be forgotten". The Iranian. Archived from the original on 9 August 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  11. Guive Mirfendereski (5 May 2004). "Requiem. Rising Sun". The Iranian. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  12. "May 2004". Rulers. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
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